Christmas Gathering - Part 1

 Everyone wanted to gather for Christmas - starting with these two. We were afraid they were going to take out the sledding platform. 

Christmas Morning!

Allie I bunked out another night and I kept her meds going every 3 hours. She is moving slowly but is up.  Her throat is sore from intubation. She was happy to exchange her scrub pants for her Christmas PJ pants.  Krista and Luke were due at 10:00 for breakfast. 

Millie sports her new "cookie tester" fashion statement. The other side says, "Every cookie you bake, I'll be watching you." 

The gift is even more appropriate after she ATE a whole plate of monkey bread last night. I got up early and got another one done. Michael built a cage around it and set about guarding it. 

Stacia squeezed orange juice. KrUke brought bacon and two pans of cinnamon rolls.  I helped Allie and Dad through morning routines while Krista made breakfast.  It was a fun way to begin the day. They left to pick up his children and go to his family's home. 

We relaxed after they left. Allie, Stacia and Nolan played Story Cubes. It was fun to compare the story they made up today with the ones which used to be created when the kids were little. 

Check out Jamin's Christmas sweater! Ye Gads! A unicorn...with tassels even. I purchased the Grinch PJs for Nolan and Alex. They humored me and wore them. 

Allie retreated to the recliner. She was ready to sit with some ice after being up a couple of hours. 

I think all the parents had talked to the grands about treating Allie carefully, honoring personal space and not jumping on her. Livie arrived first. She nearly tip toed in. They gave Allie some flowers and a stuffed panda. 

Benny walked in and asked, "Did it hurt when they cut your skin and took out your owie?"  Bella was really excited to see her "Auntie that got cut." ::snort:: 

We played games and visited. 

Well - most of us did. Josiah asked Michael if he needed help with snow or something...next thing I knew they were shoveling snow off the roof of and away from the sides of the greenhouse. Then they shoveled out a path to the fire ring and around it too. 

It's all ready now for a New Year's Eve bonfire and fireworks. 

Livie had brought a little nativity cut out for the kids to put together. It's really cute and they had fun working on it together. 

In the midst of the fun - THIS happened. Jamin was in my nook with the children.  He came out with the stool stuck around his neck. WHAT? "Annie did it." 

And now we have another Jamin story for the parenting workshop. ::snort:: We helped him extricate himself. 

Cory cooked all the taco meat for dinner.  Carrie brought a ton of toppings and dinner nearly made itself. Cory is great about putting Danny to sleep.