Christmas Morning

We had a joyous birthday party on Christmas morning for baby Jesus, full of family, good food, love, and laughter.  Our traditional Christmas breakfast is crepes spread with Nutella and filled with fresh fruit and cream.  We loved having Emilie with us, just back from her 18-month LDS mission.

And we treasured these last few family parties with Kirsten, before she leaves for her mission in February.

Alan Dale's wife, Shauna, brought her daughter, Diane, who graciously helped to make the dozens of crepes consumed by our throng.

We relaxed around the tables, eating and talking.

And then we opened gifts.  Grant was resplendent in the wildly differing political statements on his new hat and t-shirt, "Make America Great Again" and "Long Live the Proletariat."  I try mightily not to echo my mother in telling my children and grandchildren how to vote!

Mia is a special favorite with Sam and Henry.  When she disappears for a moment, Sam and/or Henry ask, "Where's Mia?"

Mia has some new furry slippers.

And Ezra, at 11 3/4, is finally old enough for Camille and Steve to issue him a cell phone!

Spencer was custodian of Daisy on Christmas morning.  Daisy is always welcome at our parties, particularly since Spencer and Naomi are so fastidious about making sure she is taken outside whenever necessary!

Shauna's grandson, Dylan, joined us for Christmas.  He was a good chess player and enjoyed competing with Bryce, Sam, and Ezra.

And finally, the moment some of us (I, anyway) have waited for all year--the Christmas tables.  I have three tables, one each for the children through high school age, the grandchildren and their spouses who are out of high school, and my children and their partners.  I spread gifts on the tables, each participant throws dice to establish a place in line, and then they take turns picking gifts until the gifts are gone.  I also buy each of the young children a more substantial gift, to supplement the Christmas table trinkets.

The gifts on the children's table are little, fun things--markers, bath bombs from Lush, plastic cars, candy bars, dollar bills, and four plastic eye balls that Dave and I bought at the State Fair last September.  The eye balls were hot items.  The winner threw one of them at the ceiling and it stuck!  We spent part of the morning trying to get the eye ball down and remove the spot it left.

The young adults table had more substantial things--board games, books, Ancestry DNA kits,  a Google Home electronic assistant, collections of hand lotion, lavender sachet, and jams.  The hot items were the Groupon coupons for massages, an axe-throwing competition, and even an introductory scuba diving lesson!

Michael K and Rebekah participated from Florida by Skype!

And finally, the Christmas table for my eight children and children-in-law.  There were all sorts of treasures, from 16" hand-carved statues of dragons from Bali to a Cuisinart food processor, sterling silver jewelry from the Art Museum of San Diego, the latest Apple earphones, and outdoor equipment from REI.  I even saved all the $20 bills I get each month from work for submitting my billable hours by the deadline, and laid them on the table!  It was fun for me to see who wanted what, and it was fun for the kids to keep poker faces and strategize.  "Heidi got 5 of the top 9 things on her list," said Michael, who had, of course, compiled spreadsheets to help with the choices for both Heidi and himself.  Mike was in Axtell, participating by Skype.

Dave and I received and appreciated the many thoughtful gifts and sweet notes.  The gift to remember, though, was this sweatshirt from Jonny and Jenny which had a drawing of a hairy chest, including nipples, on the front, and a drawing of a hairy back on the back.  We asked Dave when he is going to get the matching pants!