Christmas Holiday

Right now, I am at my parents' house. We came here on Xmas day. I had worked the night before, went home and packed, and then travelled to come here...so I really don't remember much of that day!!

Last weekend, as in the 20th, we opened our Xmas presents at home. We don't teach our children about Santa Claus. Since I was scheduled to work on Xmas Eve and we were travelling Xmas day, we decided to open them early. Shane was very excited to finally get his John Deere Tractor and John Deere square baler!! Now he wants a kicker wagon to go with it... thank goodness his birthday is only a month away! Kirsten got her new bicycle that she has been asking for very patiently for months. And Heidi got an MP4 player. They got other stuff, too...but those were the "main" gifts.

Yesterday, here at Mom's, we had our holiday dinner. My brother Todd, his wife Sue, and 2 little girls came, along with my Gramma! She is 94 years young, and does amazingly well! We had a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and lots of desserts. Todd made an amazing peanut butter pie. How did my brothers get to be such good cooks/bakers? Anyway, that gene missed me, I think. Anyway, back to the subject, we had more people come for a "snacky supper". It was great to see some of my cousins that I don't often see. We were all so close as kids. Now it is fun to see the next generation of cousins playing together. If only we all lived much closer so they could be as close as we were as kids! Hopefully as the kids grow up a bit we will be able to travel and do more things together. It is tough with toddlers that is for sure. And somehow, my kids are the older ones in the group. I do know how that happened (duh), but it still seems sorta wierd.

So, we are enjoying a couple relaxing days here at Mom's. Leigh and dad went to the shooting range to try out Leigh's new Blackpowder Flintlock rifle. It is now Blackpowder season, and Leigh is going to go out hunting when we get back home next week. Mom and I are going to see if we can go out this afternoon and leave the kids at home with Dad and Leigh. Think it will happen? Well, you can hope for us anyway. I don't have much hope that it will happen, but hey, we'll see.

Hope you all are enjoying wonderful days with family and friends. Pretty soon it will be a new year, with new hopes, dreams and goals. Rest up...you may need it for 2009!!!