Post #919. A few favorites.

In case you missed it - Post #917 on Monday, December 26th, is where I displayed a screen shot of all several hundred photos from the past week at our house. As mentioned in that post, the screen shots from my fb albums, don't show the full photos. As promised then, here's just a few enlargements of some of my personal favorites.

Baking Afternoon - 3 generations.
Even though we've lived next door to my parents for many years now, it's the first time we've ever done this Christmas Baking Afternoon. Just us girls, tea, coffee, treats, baking, talking, laughing. It was truly one of the best afternoons ever.

Girls.
We know about girls at our house. My parents have only 4 daughters, and these are 6 of their 8 Granddaughters. Hanging out at our house, on Christmas Eve, before our Noontime dinner.

Family.
Jim's December 24th Birthday was shared with the annual Family Christmas Get-together. I'm pretty sure that the last time we all got together right on Christmas Eve, Sarah was the only Grandchild and we were at my parents house when they lived farther downstate.

Sisters.
Here we are looking surprisingly close in height, even though Ann is shorter. I must have been slouching.

Nostalgic.

When my sisters and I were little, it was either our Aunt Mary or "Grandma McMillen" (not really our Grandma, but Aunt Mary's Mother-in-Law, who became our "adopted Grandmother" since we didn't have living Grandparents), who gave us each a little cone angel one Christmas that became part of our annual decorations. Somewhere along the way, they disappeared. I searched online this year for a similar angel because I thought it would be neat if all of the cousins could have one to share the connection. Turns out my sister Barb was also searching online for the cone angels. While neither one of us could find the exact same angels, I did find these charming, old fashioned angel ornaments, made by the sweetest lady on Etsy (a former Illinoisan who now lives in North Carolina). I bought 6 so... that each of the cousins could have to keep in their Christmas traditions year after year, to remind them of their connection to one another. I made a little "cousins tag" with a photo of all of them to connect to each angel. Here's the girls with their angel ornaments. The woman who made them was so kind - she even included an additional one for me to keep.

Table Decor.
I changed table decor for each and every December celebration. These are a few views of the December 24th tables. Between Dad and us, we have a collection of banquet tables that we move right into our tiny little house to seat all 15.

Christmas Eve Night.
The most magical night of the year. Even though we didn't have snow until Tuesday's dusting, it was a clear, cold, moonless night. Far away from the cities, we have a great view of the starry sky. Here was my quick photo off the back patio at dusk on Christmas Eve. All is calm, all is bright. Silent Night.

Cute Husband.
What can I say. I love this picture of Jim on Christmas morning and how he looks in his new cute hat, that he had just opened. It suits him with his beard.

Handmade with love.
Sarah's boyfriend Anthony (they've been together over a year which is longer than some marriages last), made her this wonderful sculpture of a Diana Camera that Sarah admired. He's such a great artist. The sculpture is accurate down to the smallest detail.

Christmas Day Night.
Just a couple of last pictures from the Christmas Day festivities.