Holiday Fun- In Retrospect...

Well the Holiday season is over and we all survived. It was a lot of fun, as always. We had our regular Christmas Eve Dinner. Grandma and Grandpa came to eat with us. This year we also had Michael's friend Marty come and hang out. We had the traditional French Dip, macaroni salad, Jello, little smokies, and , most important of all, SHRIMP! After dinner we played Scotland yard, a game of Michael's. It's a lot like Clue, but harder. We had a lot of fun. Then Matt and Melissa decided to stay the night because it had snowed and they didn't want to take Steven out in the snow. On Christmas morning Michael actually got up at 7:30 am!!! I know, we were all shocked too. It was okay though because we were calling Brian at 9 am so we got to open some presents before we called him. We didn't talk to him for as long this year, only about two hours. He is coming home in April so we will be able to talk to him then. He talked to my mom the longest. I think the two of them have the most to say to each other. It's great that they are so close. His Christmas cards were a lot of fun this year. He sent the kind with a picture on them. He is doing well and really loves his new area. He is almost on the border to Mexico, in the desert. After all the excitement at our house, we went out to Grandma's for the second phase of our Christmas bash. There is always a ton of food out there. We always have Ham and funeral potatoes for dinner, and of course there are always a ton of munchies. (what can I say, we are a munching family) At least Grandma has finally given up on trying to keep us away from the relish trays and dips before dinner. It was always a losing battle. Melissa gave a great collage of pictures to our friends Nancy and Nathan. It was a lot of fun to look at it and share memories from past holidays and camping trips. Man, we have some good times. It is always great to get together with Family and friends and share the holiday spirit. But it is also good to get back to a normal everyday pace. The not so good part is having to go back to work...