Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Christmas Spirit

All the family is home tonight after spending Christmas day with us.  It's quiet now at the Pines. I'll get ready soon for bed, not a "long winter's nap" but enough to give me energy to face work tomorrow. We  had a wonderful day with the kids and Grandkiddos.  We opened presents with gusto and laughter and many thanks to everyone.  I only have to return one gift.  Whew!  So as this Christmas day has turned to night I'm thankful for my family and the love we share.  I miss our son Craig and his family out west but talked and laughed with him and watched a video of their day.  I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas...as always I'll share some pics.  I'm going to share a couple of old photos from the Spirit of Christmas past...my past anyway!
One of my favorite photos of my sister and I in matching jammies!  I remember the day it was taken and I remember that Mom made these for us.  I'm the one on the right, Midge on the left...love between us!
I don't remember this photo being taken. I found it recently and what was surprising to me was the fact I hadn't noticed my brother Greg on the floor by the couch.  A photo bomb in it's day?! Ha!  Now for the Spirit of Christmas present:
A quiet Christmas Eve dinner for Jack and I. Our tradition is to have a breakfast for dinner meal. Last night it was french toast.  Yum!
This morning the gifts were piled high, ready for family.
The ham today was the main dish.  Thanks Jordan! (He always gets a Honey Baked Ham for the dinner...great gift!)
Phil and Rae and Lexi...such a sweet little family! The girls and I took a nice after dinner walk.  They are growing up so fast! I'm glad they still like to spend time with us!
We played a game after dinner.  The big plastic wrapped ball is full of silly and fun things but you have to throw dice, get a double, then put on oven mitts and try and unroll the plastic wrap. Everyone loved it and we had a lot of laughs and a promise to do it again next year.
Here's a couple of wild and crazy guys..Phil and Jordan...and big candy bars.
Arnie was not forgotten...Santa left a small gift.
A gift he promptly ripped up to get those squeaky things out! Along with the stuffing...but he had fun!
Merry Christmas 2018...the Spirit of Christmas yet to come hopefully will find us all together again, older, wiser, happy and healthy...Merry Christmas everyone!


6 comments:

Shalet Jimmy said...

Family is the first heaven...It's my wish that I want to celebrate Christmas in the West as I am from the East ( India ).

Merry Christmas....

Shady Del Knight said...

Hi, YaYa!

It's a blessing your camera arrived back from the hospital in time for you to take pictures of your family's Christmas 2018 celebration. You captured some great moments, dear friend! The first picture, showing the table setting with the fireplace and decorated mantle in the background, is stunning. I am still curious to know why Addy is now primarily known as Rae. Maybe you can let me know in your comment on SPMM. It does my heart good to see the grandkiddos participating in a no-tech game. That's a rarity in this day and age. I never heard of trying to remove plastic wrap wearing oven mitts to get at a ball filled with goodies. Does that game have a name? I haven't see a pic of Jord in a while and it immediately reminded me of you-know-who. I miss my buddy Eddy, but I was happy to see Arnie with his Christmas present. Like my Toto, he can't stop ripping at any toy that has a squeaker inside.

The old pictures at the beginning of the post are treasures. When I look at that little girl I think to myself that someday, decades in the future, she will be one of my greatest friends. I see in your eye the same spirit, strength and determination that I see in childhood pictures of another person I admired, Margaret Elizabeth Brown Schneider.

I'm happy to know you had a Christmas filled with joy and good food surrounded by loved ones. Thanks for letting us take a peek through the lens of your camera. Enjoy the rest of your week and happy new year to you, dear friend YaYa!

acorn hollow said...

Just wonderful! to spend Christmas with family.
I am back to work today too boo hoo
cathy

Julia said...

I love reading about how you celebrate Christmas and seeing those old photos... We also had ham for the Christmas dinner at my daughter's place and guess what? we also looked at old photos... We usually have a huge turkey but one tradition the kids insist on keeping is having Broken Glass Torte for dessert.
Although it's cold here this morning and no snow, I'm sending you a warm Canadian hug.
Julia

betty said...

Looked like you had a delightful day with your family!! It is always neat to get together and enjoy time spent with those we love!! Now on to 2019!

betty

Kay G. said...

I love that first photo of you with your arm around your sister. I knew which one was you!
Your table in front of the fireplace looks so inviting, it is beautiful.
Guess what, I took today off in order to spend some time with our son, although my hubby had to work. I think I will try by best to do so in the future, I loved having Christmas day and Boxing day off! (Boxing day is what they call Dec. 26th in the U.K.!)