We began the night with a ham dinner and then progressed to family gift exchange. This year, we drew names. That relieved stress and was still fun. I suggested throwing in a dirty Santa element - but Noooooo.....they liked their gifts. LOL
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| Lassie is willing to help |
Yarn gets this kind of reaction
Josiah was trying to get this from Craig's list. Jared aced him out and got it for him for Christmas.
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| ice auger for ice fishing |
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| Moose call???? or some such thing |
I bought all the girls an apron from Tanzania. A friend's daughter is working at an orphanage there, and this helped to support one of the gals there.
Michael and I had already purchased the aprons before everyone decided to draw names.....so we got the guys gift cards....but we tried to be sneaking with Jared and Cory.
Trying to get a photo - that did take quite a bit of time
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| Sad Larissa was home with shingles |
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| Benny - not so sure about New Year's Eve |
We opened our time capsule from 2011 and added things for 2017.
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| fishing frog - symbolizing the AK move |
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| Note letting the kids know Gideon was coming unexpectedly....and info from the hospital when Benny was born. |
Krista included maps of her travels in 2017 - I can't hope to get it right...but LOTS of states and 2 countries....and maybe rank to symbolize the Air Force
I had made a book for Michael during his deployment and it was in the 2011 time capsule. The kids enjoyed seeing themselves 6 years later.
Making and then decorating the Gingerbread villages took a couple of hours.
We all headed outside to watch the FIREWORKS. Wow. Someone had climbed to the top of the mountain and was setting them off from the top of the mountain! There were some impressive fireworks. We learned that the borough makes an exception and allows fireworks on New Year's Eve. We will be prepared next year.
We rang in the New Year with sparkling cider, toasts, memories and prayers.
2017 was a year of hard losses for us, but it was also a year great of joy. Krista is pursuing a long-held goal. We moved to Alaska. Gideon and Bennett were born healthy. We bought a home we love - with a bit of land and a view we love. 8 of the 9 Gherkins and their families are nearby....
