Josh, Michelle, Avi, Saylor and "Jack" (the dog) arrived late in the afternoon of Christmas Day. Saylor brought some of her Christmas with her 😍
Trying it out for us!
The next day it was so pretty, so Josh, Saylor and I spent some time at the school playground
That afternoon, full-on preparations were going for the rest of the family to join us for our big Christmas meal and gift exchange!
Avi, Saylor and Michelle (and Josh making his green bean casserole) were all a big help!!
Rachel and family and Andy and family all arrived around 5 (and Mom too). My house was filled with joy!!! We really didn't know if it would actually happen with covid/quarantines/etc.! But praise the Lord, IT DID!!! (It had been over a year since we were all together--Thanksgiving 2019!)
Christmas dinner - Ham and Turkey and all the trimmings!
Mashed potatoes, gravy, brocolli with cheese sauce, stuffing, green bean casserole, gluten free homemade noodles for Rachel and Ellie
And HOMEMADE NOODLES for the rest of us -- a tradition I grew up with, as well as my kids! I messed up on these as I left them out all night to dry (instead of rolling them up and cutting first so when I did cut with a pizza cutter, they were way too wide--but thankfully tasted good anyway!)
Fruit salad, strawberry pretzel salad, stuffed celery, cranberries and relish tray and mandarin orange lettuce salad (some of which didn't get included in the picture)
And lots of dessert: Oreo Ice Cream dessert, Christmas cake, strawberry cobbler, banana cream pie, cookies, puff popcorn with white chocolate, etc. (no pictures though)
Small house means you sit people wherever you can!! Kitchen, living room, bedroom!
💗💗💗
And then it was presents time!
And stocking time!
Then some game fun
We enjoyed lots of good food together! Thanks to all who helped with the meals and a huge thank you to Rachel and Jonathan for sharing their home with us!
Silly String fun from their stockings
Josh's crew stayed with us in Conway and Andy's crew stayed in Little Rock at Rachel and Jonathan's home. Big slumber party!
Sunday and Monday, Jeff and I and Josh and his family drove to Little Rock and spent those days with the rest of our crew in the McCrary's big home!
Lego fun
Playing games
Beautiful weather
Picture one night of them in their Christmas pj's
Our last day together, we went to the movies! Rented out a theater just for our family! So fun!
The last morning that the kids were with us....and it was my 67th birthday! Sweet way to start the day!
In another post, are the "family" pictures we took on Sunday. A big thank you to Jonathan for his expertise in doing that for us!
A WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS TIME WITH OUR FAMILY!
SO THANKFUL!!
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