Another Holiday Gone - Sigh

So we made it thru another holiday here at Fuzzy Acres. Daughter Tara, son-in-law Joel, and Miss Ellie were here for a quick 27 hour visit before heading west to Alpha for Christmas with his family. They will be stopping thru here again on Wednesday for another quick overnight visit on their way back east to Indiana. Ellie is growing fast and changing almost daily. Of course, Tara and Joel don't see the little changes but they are huge to Mike and me since we only see her every couple of weeks. I can only imagine how different she will be to Joel's parents since they haven't seen her since Thanksgiving!

We got up at our usual time for coffee and homemade cinnamon bread and went thru our stuffed stockings. We still hang our stockings with care and Santa always fills them to overflowing. Even Ellie got some cute things from Santa!

Tara then went upstairs to nurse Ellie while Joel showered and I put the finishing touches on our sausage/kraut bread braids. Then it was gift opening time. Lots of neat and needed items. It was a good time, especially since Busia and Gramps went a bit overboard for Ellie's first Christmas. But in my defense, they were (mostly) practical items. In a couple years I'll be buying stuff that will thrill Ellie but will make Tara roll her eyes and groan. But that's what Busias do - spoil the grand kids!

Mike's family arrived around noon, as well as a dear friend from Bloomington and her boyfriend. Pam hasn't been to one of our Christmas gatherings in several years and the crowd was much larger than the five that sat down to a quiet meal many years ago. We had twelve and a half (Ellie) for an early lunch that lasted over two hours, as all good holiday meals should. We finished it off with my mom's famous homemade cheesecake and a cut-throat game of Crazy 8s - a game that Mike's mom can follow and participate in reasonably well.

The kids left for Alpha about 4pm and Pam and Jim followed shortly after. The rest of the family stayed around until almost 6 and then Mike and I finished cleaning up the kitchen and settled down in the living room - me to put my feet up while Mike played with his favorite new toy - a RC helicopter. He was crashing more than flying but was slowly getting the hang of it while having quite the enjoyable time.

I finished off the day touching base by phone with my friends, Marcia and Lisa. A very nice holiday.

Christmas Ellie

 Joel holds a tuckered-out Ellie after an afternoon of delivering gifts to the neighbors.

1st Christmas family photo 

 Aw-w-w!

Too sweet!

 Look at this smile! Ellie has started tracking movement and also looking for your face when she hears your voice. She smiles a lot more and a lot of  the time they are real smiles and not gas!





Ellie's Christmas sleeper. Such a princess . . .