Christmas, 2017

Christmas, to be brutally honest, is not my favorite time of year.  James misses his mother and brother.  I miss my Dad.  I miss the traditions of having little little ones at home.  I do enjoy the older kids' new sense of obligations - they feel like they should get their little siblings a gift, or take them out, or explain the history of the ornaments with them. 

This year saw a new tradition - although it may not be a keeper - a live tree.  The attorney I work for has a family Christmas Tree farm on the western shore, where he grew up.  Each year he invites family and friends to come cut a tree.  So, off we went.

As luck would have it - it snowed.  This made for a pretty drive and lots of slush.  Mr. Yeager's family was very welcoming to this big group of strangers in their midst.  Turns out the teens knew each other from high school - small town.  We had chili and brats and lots of hot chocolate.  They had a fire pit going and Santa handed out gifts to the kids.  It was all very nice.  Then, we picked out a tree.

The kids found a tree they liked and Mr. Yeager said, That's a big tree.  So, this nice lady with a saw cut our big tree and James dragged it down the hill.  With some help from our new friends, we tied the tree to the top of our car and headed back home.

Our tree - and our tree in his new home.  That's a big tree!

Snow is pretty.  Still not a fan.

Ornaments for our friends in AR....

Delivered by Rachel and Evan, who got a trip to Evan's parents' home for the holidays.  We missed them, but, hey, it's Christmas.  Evan's family misses him, too.

Christmas morning.

Opening gifts - Josephine and Samantha - lit.

 Later in the afternoon, mom came over and we opened her gifts.  Then we went out for Chinese food.  This is James' gift to me - but, I let everyone else come along.  Look closely in this picture - you can see Samantha catching a squash, thrown from our chef - you can't take these kids anywhere.

And more antics for Josephine - the chef called this baby sake.  She said it was lemonade - I love the look on mom's face - never a dull moment with this bunch.  Merry Christmas; God bless us, every one.