A few Highlights.

 Christmas Eve around here was a tad bit different from those in the past.  Not everyone could be here, but it was "face time" to the rescue  that evening.  Goodness....isn't it nice to have Face Time?  

I mentioned last year how I always hide a pickle ornament on the tree.  The first person to find it gets a special gift.  This year, Trista found the new wooden pickle!!  She was so excited because this was her first time to find it.  

I purchased this WOODEN pickle when I was on my trip to Branson.  This pickle is a carved pickle and has a hole in the bottom of it to slide your money gift into.  All of the kiddos searched and searched...I'm guessing it took them at least 20 minutes before Trista found it.  

I did a new thing this year....  I had a candy cane hunt!  The candy canes were wrapped with different denominations of money.  I hung them outside (after dark) on the trees, shrubs, the swing and in all kinds of places in the front yard.  They all had to use the flashlight on their phones to do a night time candy cane hunt.  They all had a GREAT time doing this.  I know it will be a request for next year!

The next morning, I went outside to check around to make sure they had found all of the candy canes.  I actually found two, hanging in different trees.  Finders, Keepers!!

This little guy made our evening so full.  He rode his horse, his scooter and throughly enjoyed playing with all of the discarded wrapping paper.  The Ginger Bread Cookie was what he loved the most!!  Imagine that.

This one is actually a Gingerbread girl.  I had both the guy and girl. William loved eating the eyes and all of the decorative icing off first...

We also played a little drawing game.  Each person had a blank snowman.  They had two dice to roll, and a pen to draw the details on their snowman.   The instructions were like this......roll double 1's and you could put a hat on your snowman.  Roll double 5's and you could put buttons on your snowman.  In other words, you had to roll a certain number for each item needed.  At the end of 2 minutes the person with the most decorated snowman won!!  Emily T.  WON! 🥇  I'm not sure what happened to the picture of Emily holding her drawing, but here is one of Carson and his snowman.

Why did I say Emily T. ??  Because 3 of our 4 grandsons married an Emily/Emalee.  We have three granddaughter in-laws with the same name. 

This year, I gave all of the couples plus Mylee Jo a large "Hulken" bag and I had all kinds of goodies stuffed in there.  Aside from their gifts, I filled the bag up with toiletries.....good household items, plus a game for each one..  Games like Uzzle, Wheel of Fortune, Crowns, Mexican Train and such.  They all seemed to be thrilled... Needless to say, these bags took up a lot of space in our living area.  

Would you believe that I even gifted MYSELF with one?  I sure did and I love it.  

We had a little party at the Nursing Home for Sam's dad on Sunday afternoon and I loaded my bag up with all the goodies....Cake, Cookies, Drinks, Napkins, Plates...everything I needed to set up for the party.  I rolled my bag into the party room...unloaded everything and when it was over, loaded leftovers back up and took it out to my car.  

EASY PEASY!!  I needed one of these bags a long time ago.  

Sam's dad enjoyed his Christmas party with family and to top things off, the kids (not really kids anymore) got up and sang for him.  

The joy on his face and the clapping of his hands was priceless.  

These are just a few highlights of time spent with family... 

We have no appointments until Friday.  Woo Hoo!!

Everyone have a good one today!!

Shug...💛