Stuck in the Seatbelt

This Christmas was a different one for us. We spent the normal Christmas Eve with my family but that was about the only "normal" thing we did. Usually K's family comes up and stays with us and his oldest brother's house for a couple of weeks, but this year his Mom got a new job and couldn't get that much time off work. They were not able to be here for Christmas Day, so when we heard of the community dinner that a couple from church was putting on we decided that we would volunteer there. It was great! We had a large group of volunteers (most of them coming from our church!) and we had the kids sing Christmas carols, one of the boys played his guitar, a few played piano, and a few of us sang. I sang the song that I had sung at our Christmas Eve Service at church. PM picked it out, and I loved it. It was called The Christmas Star and was by the Winans, I believe.
Before the community dinner we had gone out with a couple friends to the Mission in town for breakfast. They had a HUGE breakfast! You could have omlettes, scrambled eggs, french toast, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, lots and lots of choices. After the dinner we came home to rest a bit and went over to A&A's for dinner. They had a semi traditional Italian Christmas dinner. It was delicious! We had an Olive Garden recipe soup, antipasta, stuffed shells and chicken parmesan, and lots of cookies and candies. I ate way too much! We played some games after wards and talked alot. C's sister and brother in law came in as a surprise from Pennsylvania and they taught us a new domino game, Chickenfoot. We played that for hours! I bought a set of dominos for us on ebay and I got them today and was a bit disappointed. I knew they were used, but the seller put one domino from a non matching set in there to make it a whole set and the tin that they were in was really beat up. Ahh well, guess I just have to go to Wally.
K's parents made it up at about 2:45 on the 28th, and the 29th we had the H family Christmas. It was alot of fun, one of his brothers brought his Wii and we played games almost all afternoon. And of course I took plenty of pictures!
I did ok in the Wii bowling, I took first one game and second in another, but the most fun was one that I am sure not alot of people can say that they had the joy of during their Christmas celebrations.....I got to box my mother in law! Ok so she knocked me out, but I did put up a fight dropping her to the ground first! Gotta love those Wii games!
I found out that my niece and nephew know me well...they got me a digital picture frame for Christmas! We put a 2G card in it and have loved choosing the pictures to go in it and watching them as they change in the frame!
New Years was also different. I didn't have to work New Year's Eve day so I stayed home and did laundry and cleaned up the house a bit. We were just about to head out to take some pictures and check out a couple things at the church when PM called and invited us to their place for food and fun, as well as inviting K to ride along on a trip to Wal Mart. We accepted on both and ate too much that night as well! C had fixed breaded mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, a bunch of dips for chips, and shrimp. Yum! We sat around and talked for awhile. J left early and we tried to get the boys down (PM and C were babysitting their grandsons too) so we could watch a movie. That didn't go as well as we had hoped, so C took the boys back to A&A's and the rest of us headed downstairs to watch some tv. We ended up watching a guy jump the length of a football field on a motorcycle and set a world record. C came home after one and we sat and talked a bit and finally K and I headed home to get some sleep.
New Year's Day I woke up around 8:30 and just could not go back to sleep! I grabbed a shower and headed downstairs to do some ebay shopping and soon after K came down and took me out to get a cappucino. At one we were back at PM and C's for meatball sandwiches. Delicious! We sat around the table and talked some more until L had enough and wanted a story read to him (PM and C had the oldest of the gradsons again, A&A went shopping and he didn't want to go!) so the rest of us went downstairs to watch some football. PM fell asleep, K fell asleep and J headed home for his nap so C and I watched football and talked until the guys woke up. We snacked a bit more and watched the movie "Amazing Grace". I loved it!!! We talked for a bit longer after that and headed home around 9:30 since all four of us had to work in the morning, but C and I first made plans for Thursday as it looks like we both may have the day off.
This year has also brought me a new hobby/collection. PM and Collen have given me a small Precious Moments figurine for the past couple of years and I decided that I loved them and with the money that my Grandparents and my Parents have given me for Christmas I would shop ebay and buy some more. I'm having alot of fun, and it has made for alot of interesting conversations with PM and C!
Hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day! Wishing you all a blessed 2008!