Merry Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas! We had a very nice Christmas Day. We picked Brian up at his apartment just as it began to snow.

We laughed and made jokes about it. I wish I could have gotten a photo of it but it melted as quickly as it touched the ground.

We drove through the snowflakes and talked about Indiana and Tennessee.

We talked about the times it has snowed in Oregon and how Brian once got stranded in Newberg because of the floods.

After hugs and greetings we admired Grandma's beautiful tree and all of the ornaments that she had throughout her home.




















The nativity scene that Don and family made for her last year was atop the entertainment center.















Then Dad set out on his quest of being the first to find the pickle on the tree. He found it before I could.



















Brian tried to find it the pickle but ultimately gave up and sat down. From that level he quickly found it.



















Grandma was almost ready with dinner which was served at about 1:00 so technically I guess it was really lunch. She recruited Neal to mash the potatoes.



















It was a fabulous meal of lamb and potatoes and gravy. There were green beans with mushrooms, and she prepared a salad which is an old family favorite made with pears with cream cheese in lemon and lime Jello. She had really done a marvelous job of preparing dinner.






For dessert she served Umpqua Spumoni ice cream and some of her wonderful Christmas cookies. For Lori and Don Dad is pointing out one of their favorites.



















We all sat around and talked and mostly laughed at how funny Neal and Brian were.

I had the opportunity to sit and talk with Mom about lots of different things and of Nellie’s passing.

Mom presented me with a gift. She knows how much I love malt balls. That’s probably my favorite candy.

At Harry and David’s she found some that were rolled in candy cane crumbs for the holidays. Oh My! They were delicious.



















Brian was so funny. Though he was almost sick from eating too much; he had no will power to stop munching all of the goodies that were available to us. We laughed each time something new was offered and through his stomach ache he took another piece.

Mom showed me each of the ornaments she had purchased for the kids over the years and I took pictures of them so we could all remember. That was fun.

When Neal was just a baby this ornament was his first Christmas ornament.



















When he was about 4 years old Dijuan said that Neal chose this ornament all by himself.



















This one was bought for Donald.



















And this clown was bought for Brian. Grandma said that she had purchased clowns for all the boys and we got a laugh when she teased Brian about his being a clown.




















This next one is Lori’s.



















This little boy ornament was purchased for Stuart.



















Audrey’s is a Raggedy Ann ornament. Our tree has a new ornament for each year of all of our grandchildren's lives.




















Great Grandma started a new tradition.
"First Christmas" ornaments. So, for Courtney there were two ornaments.
The little duck was her first Christmas.



















And the little girl Santa was purchased for Courtney later.



















Melanie also was given two ornaments.
The angel was for her first Christmas.



















The little girl with the big snow ball was purchased for Melanie later.



















Emma got the swan for her first Christmas.



















And then later Grandma bought Emma this cute little dove.




















Dayton’s ornament is a snowman but there were several snowmen on the tree and she couldn’t remember which one was his. She said that when she puts them away she will be able to tell which is his by the markings on the box it came in. So I'll be sure to get a photograph of it at that time.

Always the clown, Brian kept us laughing. He put on his hat and threw the scarf over his shoulder and around his neck (I didn’t get that picture) and announced, “Gentile” then he pulled the scarf so that both pieces hung down and I grabbed the camera in time to get this as he said, “Jew”. We laughed so much.



















Brian set up the camera on the timer and got this picture.














Again we had to laugh because in the next photo it looks like grandma is being squeezed by Neal and Brian who are both leaning in.


At about 4:00 or so when it was beginning to get darker we decided to leave and head for home. What a fun day we had had!