I finally had time to upload all of my photos from the many Christmas parties we attended. We split the holidays every year between families. Christmas Eve is always spent with my Dad’s side of the family for lunch and early evening and then it’s on to Josh’s Mom’s side of the family for dinner and dessert. Christmas morning is spent at Josh’s grandmothers house with Josh’s Dad’s side of the family, and then Christmas evening is spent at our house with my Mom’s side of the family. Josh and I have a tough time at the holidays being pulled in so many directions… but it always makes for pleasant company and quality time with the family. My sister Ginger is a Christmas baby, so we celebrate her birthday in the middle of all this!
Josh moans and groans that he has to cook all the meals around here, but he does love to cook when we have people over. This year he barbecued a prime rib, which turned out perfect and (almost!) on time. We had a large wine bottle from our wedding that acted as our guest book for our guests to sign when we were married a few years back, and we decided that Christmas was the perfect evening to open and enjoy it. (It’s equivalent to six bottles of wine and YES they did finish it!)
My sisters and I are all fairly close in age, and this year was the first Christmas we all have been married off. All our husbands get along great and they decided this year to have an "ugly sweater" contest. The rule was it could be Christmas related or not, but it had to be UGLY. The first person to get too hot to keep in on was the loser. Here are all the men in their ugly sweaters, just as proud as can be….
My Uncle Robert (in the red sweater) made his own sweater with felt and a glue gun, and he had the blisters to prove it. (Men should not use glue guns). My brother in law Mike (second from the left) is wearing a sweater Josh and I found at the Goodwill. My sister Denise added some embellishments to make it Christmasy, but she didn’t realize she was decorating the back… so Mike had to wear it backwards all night long. :) Craig and Mike found ugly seventy sweaters and borrowed them from a friends personal collection, whose wife made them promise not to return them to her husband. I think Mike (there are two) should get some kudo’s for the ugly clashing shorts.
Josh (above on the right) is modeling the sweater I made from a corny Christmas pillow I found at the grocery store. Nate (above on the left) was the nominated winner and my sister Lindsey made his sweater. She actually sewed all those cute decorations on! (Ugly was in the eyes of the men this time).
Here we all are in a group photo I took with my fancy new remote for my camera. We even got Hannah in the picture, so I just love this one. I think we will have to make a tradition of a group photo each year.
These cuties are my cousin, Matilda and my niece Lauren.
Another niece, Hailey, opening presents.
And my niece, Makenzie. Isn’t she so pretty?
Since some of you had never seen a jewel tree before I wanted to show you the two Josh’s grandma has. Her’s don’t have lights, but they are done a little differently with cute little packages under the tree.
In addition to the remote I received for my camera, I also got a new Cannon Macro lens. Here are two of the fun pictures I took with my new lens.
This one is a close up of my topiary stocking holders. The pretty beaded garland was a gift from my friend Chris, who surprised me with a package full of goodies just to be nice!
This one is a new favorite of mine. Too bad it came after Christmas, because it would have made a cute Christmas card! The little mittens are from Josh’s grandma in Wisconsin. She sends presents to everyone each year, and this year we all had little mittens with our names pinned on, and money inside!
Thanks for allowing me to share all my photos! Believe it or not there are hundreds more… so these are just the highlights. I hope all of you enjoyed your holidays, and look forward to a new year!
by Sadie Olive
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