'Twas the night before Christmas, and long we will treasure,
the times spent with family, and love we can't measure.
It has been a full day. Actually, a full two days. It is the year my daughter and her family will celebrate Christmas with her husband's family, so they decided to come spend the night in Crosby to enjoy an "early Christmas" with us. They arrived yesterday just in time for our traditional Christmas meal of Cornish Game Hens stuffed with rice.
We then proceeded as if it were actually Christmas Eve. The Christmas story was read by our granddaughter, her three brothers joined her in passing out the gifts, we offered a prayer of thanks for our blessings, and then the gifts were opened. Starting with the youngest, and rotating to the oldest, we took turns opening our gifts. We shared lots of laughter, and a few confused looks when Uncle Ryan tricked his older nephews by replacing Lego pieces with books inside the Lego boxes he gave them. In the end, they did get the Lego pieces, too, but he had them wondering! The night ended with four kids in new pajamas, and hearts filled with love and thankfulness.
This morning, we pretended it was Christmas Day, and woke up to stockings filled with small treats. First priority, however, was working on getting the Lego sets assembled. Since one of the items in our granddaughter's stocking was a pencil covered in snowflakes, she got inspired to write a story. The "rough draft" was on copy paper, and the final print done typing on Grandma's phone. I do believe we have another little author on our hands!
When afternoon rolled around, more children started arriving with their parents and grandparents. We have a tradition in my husband's family of having a "Cousin Cookie Bake" sometime shortly before Christmas. It began with our daughter and two of her cousin back in 1981. Two of them were not yet 3, and the other was 4 1/2. Three little girls, and two mothers. Over the years, however, the group expanded, and today the bakers included ten of their children!
Perhaps some of my favorite pictures taken over the years came from the year 1991, so this year we tried to take a similar picture of the second generation cookie bakers.
My daughter and I took turns rolling the dough, and my husband was the one manning the oven. Over the years, he has perfected the art of knowing just how long to leave them in the oven!
We learned today the second generation bakers prefer a heavier coating of sprinkles on their cookies! Everyone got to enjoy a cookie or two (or three, or four!) and were given the option of taking a small plate of cookies home with them.
After a visit at Great Grandma's house, we headed out of town for a gathering with another set of cousins. My brother and his wife had invited us, our son, and our daughter & family to a delicious meal of baked potatoes and taco toppings. Adding to the crowd were their six grandchildren, along with their daughter and husband. It was fun to see the second cousins interact, as they aren't together very often. The evening included sled rides behind the "Ranger" in the dark. Thankfully, everyone returned safely indoors! We couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a few pictures.
At the end of the day, there was just a small amount of cookie dough left, so this collector of Nativities finished it off the best way she could think of! Merry Christmas to all, and cherish those precious memories!
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