Holiday Recap 2017 (part two)…

In spite of all of the sickness our family experienced leading up to it, Christmas turned out wonderfully.  Ed and I began the day by having breakfast with our daughter and her family.  Occasionally, we visit each of our children on Christmas morning, but chose not to this year, since Ed was still recovering.

Brad and Jennifer filmed our grandson, Evan, as he woke up to find what Santa had left him.  I enjoyed watching their video, later in the day.  There’s nothing quite like sharing the ‘wide eyed’ wonder of a child on Christmas morning!

Santa was very good to Evan

Food prep went smooth and easy, this year, thanks to a lot of help from my girls, and some planning ahead on my part. (I made a double batch of dressing/stuffing on Thanksgiving and froze some)  This year, instead of using paper plates, I chose to set the table with my “twelve days of Christmas” china, last year’s Christmas gift from Ed.  Using paper plates is easier, but the table looked prettier with the china.

Following lunch, we took our annual ‘crazy Christmas hat’ photo, which went effortlessly, too.  We only took three shots, and none of the three were really bad.  That’s quite a feat considering there were twelve people in the photo and the camera was set on ‘timer’!

For once, the weather was actually cold on Christmas, this year!  We could actually wear our Christmas outfits, and not have to turn on the A/C.  (one year I actually wore shorts) However,  we did have to turn on the ceiling fan during our gift exchange!  Things get a little crazy when we play ‘Dirty Santa’.

As always, we started off the gift exchange with the grandchildren–opening one gift at a time, beginning with the youngest. I know, I know, but it makes the fun last longer.

patiently waiting for Evan to finish his turn

Next came the adult gift exchange–something new, this year.  (We usually just play two rounds of the ‘Dirty Santa’ game).  I think Brad got the most interesting gift, a Georgia Bulldogs SEC Championship t-shirt.  Brad’s a ‘die-hard’ Bulldogs fan, so it was the perfect gift choice for him.

this shirt brought Brad’s ‘dawgs’ good luck last weekend

Brad also got another interesting gift, this year. Our grandson, Caden, chose to pass the “Christmas Panties” to his Uncle Brad–complete with a hand-written note!

For those who don’t know, we have this HUGE pair of women’s panties that have been passed around in our family since the late 80’s.  Attached on the outside of the box is a note from each previous recipient to the next.  If you’re counting, that’s about thirty years these panties have been traveling!

Brad was gracious and posed for several pictures with the panties–one with all of his family tucked inside of those panties at the same time!!!  (Sorry, no picture)

After we finished with the gift exchange, we played a round of ‘Dirty Santa’.  One of the most unusual gifts to come out of this game ended up belonging to our son-in-law, Clint.

A yard of Snickers!  That’s a lot of candy bars!!!

By the time we’d finished playing ‘Dirty Santa’ it was almost 4:30.  We still had two more games to play, but decided to take a break.  Some folks ate a snack, some folks took a nap, while  still others drank a cup of coffee.  A few folks even went outside to search for a little missing hand-held video game, that had been lost in the yard, earlier. (Fortunately it was found!)

Eventually, we played the remaining two games, and everyone had great fun.  Both games involved rolling some huge dice and opening gifts.  Who wouldn’t love that?  The kids sure seemed to enjoy it!  The best gift won was $10, by grandson, Caden, while the worst gift was a lump of coal, won by Ed.  These last two games were so fast-paced, I forgot to take any pictures!

Finally, we ate supper, divided up the left-overs, and, eventually, called it a day.  The last of our holiday guests left for home around 9:15 that evening.  Shortly afterward, Ed and I took our nightly bath/shower and called it a wrap!  It was a great Christmas.

Of course, the holidays weren’t quite over.  New Year’s Eve was just around the corner.  I’ll save that story for part three of my recap, but I’ll give you just a glimpse into that evening…

uh-oh…the camera mis-fired!