We have our family Christmas the week end after the New Year so this past weekend we were together here at Apartment 12. We had seven inches of snow with winds (we live in a wind tunnel area) two days before and it looked very Christmas-y.
A few changes were made for this first Christmas without my honey. I got the grandchildren an assortment of gift cards, hung them on this delightful four-foot tinsel Christmas tree. Their names were pulled from a container and they could choose a card. Christmas shopping was very simple and easy!
Here we are! The dinning/kitchen area is long enough to spread out this way - bigger grands at folding tables, the rest around our stretched out table.
What is Christmas without candy canes and wrapped mints? Put together in a wire basket in wide-mouth quart jars and wrapped with burlap strands saved from another project. The numbers came from a church register find at a yard sale.
Gift exchange time with excited children! This time the guys and gals exchanged with guys and gals...so much fun and so much easier!
This year I decided to fancy my gift to give. The flower is cut free-handed in different sizes and rolled around a pencil to curl it. Do as many 'petals' as you want, glue them together and use a center of choice...ta-da! a lovely, simple and cheap gift flower!
Cousins playing 'barn.' Notice the hat and purse on the chair? Even the boys enjoy dress-up stuff that's back in Grandma's dressing room. And speaking of the dressing room...
...yep.
This is exactly what it looks like!
She was to be taking a nap in Grandma's bed.
The cupcakes were hid in the dressing room from premature snacking.
Daddy did a check on her.
Too late...
...and too cute!
Even though there was snow laying and c-o-l-d!, there was a father/son football game going the rest of the afternoon. The rest of us read, rested and chatted - it was very restful before the clan came in to pizza and finger-food for supper.
I like to think my honey was watching us and approved of the changes that were put in place. And another first is behind us.
~ Esther
I know your honey was looking down on family Christmas. Life goes on, yes different but goes on. Loving one another does not change. Seeing your pictures shows the love that your family has. Blessings Esther.
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