Christmas with the Fab Five... the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Well I hope everyone enjoyed a merry and blessed Christmas. Monday evening (Christmas Eve) I went to church at Quest UMC. Abe and Allison were in town for the holidays, and the children sang a couple of songs, which was a real treat. After church I head to Gibson City to my brother's house for dinner and what has become the traditional holiday ice cream drinks. Every one else prefers the grasshoppers, but I am definitely a Pink Squirrel kind of girl... I think it is because #1 it is pink, #2 it is called "Pink Squirrel"... how cool is that, and #3 Leave it to me to be unconventional. Besides, Jayne and Phil and the kids, we were joined by my parents, my Aunt Ann, and the Beck's (Al, Amelie & Taylor B) friends of Jayne and Phil's. Oh, and also Kyle Valentine... Ashley's former boyfriend and now buddy/friend. Evidently Jayne got Kyle a present for Christmas, even though he and Ashley decided not to exchange gifts, and Ashley has way too much fun referring to Kyle as "Mom's Boyfriend". It was just a very nice and relaxing time.

I spent the night at my parents' house, and my Uncle Bill, Phil and family and Jan and family joined us at about 11 a.m. We had every appetizer known to man for lunch, opened presents, and then dined on our traditional meal of steak, oyster dressing, sweet potatoes, corn and salads for an early dinner. We had pie for dessert, but I opted instead for date pudding (kind of like a chocolate spice cake) with caramel sauce... again another traditional favorite in our family. Jan and family had to leave right after dinner because Larry and Eric left early this morning with a group from their church for New Orleans. They will be doing some home building (framing and drywall) in the 9th ward for about a week.

It was great to spent time with my family, especially the Fab Five... my five nieces and nephews. The title of this post refers the t-shirt Lane got for Christmas and was excited to show me. Here is a picture of the front and back... I think it is great.

My mom totally fooled Jeremy by wrapping his ipod in a box about the size of a copy paper box. She also managed to get a laugh out of our generation by hiding our Christmas cash in the pages of magazines she has saved in the basement dating back approximately to the years of our birth, high school graduation and weddings. It was hysterical because my parents' basement is a pretty much a disaster of 25+ years of junk. It drives my siblings far more crazy than me. It used to drive me crazy too, but perhaps I have just mellowed, or maybe realized that when you are in your 70's the last thing you really want to do is clean your basement. One day it will by "our mess", and my parents seem to be totally fine with that! :)

I took the day off work today to recover from the Christmas craziness. Nathan stopped by for lunch on his way home to Chicago from Fairfield. I took down my Christmas tree while I had the free time, and haven't done much else. Back to work tomorrow... ugghh... but just two days before the weekend.

Editor's Note: The picture at the top of the blog is a very reluctant Fab 5 posing for a picture, they are lined up on the steps in age order... a la Brady Bunch.