Wednesday, December 18, 2013

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas


The day after Thanksgiving we had family pictures taken.  We used one with Wayne and I for our cards, but above is one of just the grand kids.  I've spent the past two weeks decorating for Christmas.  It's nice being retired and having time to do it the way I want.  I don't know how I ever had time to work.  After decorating I had the Fancy Aunt Lunch this past Sunday.  My sisters, sister in laws, daughter and nieces celebrate birthdays, usually combining two or three at a time.  This time it was for my s.i.l. Didi, and two of my sisters who have birthdays this week.

I've ordered some Christmas presents on-line, half which have not come yet.  The seven older grand kids want gift cards.  I hate not buying presents for them, so I got the gift cards and a gift for each to open.  I had fun buying toys for the two babies.  Yesterday I went to the post office to mail our cards, to Shop n Save to buy gift cards, to Old Navy to return a sweater, to Pet Smart, Hobby Lobby and Abercrombie & Fitch to buy gift cards.  Then I went by Meramec to register Wayne for a class this spring and visit my old office.  I was tired by the time I got home, but glad I got so much done. 

Here are some pictures of our house and the luncheon:

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving with all of our family except Patrick.  There were 17 of us, a manageable number.  It was really nice with the new kitchen.  I just put all of the dishes on the island and people just filled their plates in there.  After dinner we all went to my sister Libby's for dessert.  I forgot to take any pictures, but below are some from our house.


Then Friday was Wayne's birthday, and Amy had us all over there for Imo's pizza. 


Early Saturday morning we had a photographer come to the house and take pictures of all of the grand kids on our front porch.  I wanted to get a good picture for our Christmas card, and Wayne and I were in a few.  The kids behaved better than I expected.  I'm anxious to get the CD of the pictures.  

Kate, her two, Abbey and I went to visit my mother-in-law at Friendship Village in the afternoon.  It is pretty depressing, but we don't know how much longer she will be around, so we visit when we can.  John and Chellie had taken the two babies to see her Friday afternoon, and though she couldn't remember who they were, she kept telling us some relative brought the two cutest babies to see her.  She doesn't remember much and repeats herself every five minutes, but she is thrilled to see her great grand children.  We all met at a restaurant in Kirkwood for dinner, and John and Chellie left this morning.  Kate and Corinne and Jack will leave tomorrow afternoon.  They will not be back for Christmas, but John and Chellie will.