..merry merry christmas....

Still love this guy like crazy!


Okay, 18 years ago today, I got the most wonderful Christmas present!
Margaret Cheryl. This is Marg holding the little baby we watched last week.

She was my Christmas baby, coming home from the hospital on Christmas Eve.

Margaret is graduating from high school next month, half a year early. She has gotten excellent grades, taken hard courses including some college credit classes. She is musical and funny and creative. Margaret is Margaret no matter who is around. She is the oldest of those five girls in a row...


We are celebrating her 18th birthday by going to the Dome for a church fundraiser:)

cookies!

Our tippy tree....


And since I am being random, here is a picture of my soldier son Samuel, he is the first one on the right. He has been busy down there in Washington D.C./Arlington. The Old Guard not only patrol the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier, they are present at funerals at the National Cemetery, and participate in retirement ceremonies and award presentations. They are, though, first and foremost: infantry!

Random: a selfie with my 13 year old daughter, Suzanne, and my sister's youngest daughter, photo-bomber Audrey:)

Ten of my daughters...and one little friend, Tassia.

So we managed to record a few of their songs, but this is not my computer, alas my poor Chromebook is dead. Paul is going to order a new screen for it, but for now, I am using his laptop. One of the songs is on youtube, under My Five Daughters, but I think the setting is semi private. The other song is on facebook...

Our house is busy today with happy children. Jon estimates it will be about 70 hours until we open presents. They had a fantastic time yesterday at the Christmas feast....there was a cocoa station with cookies and fudge...
my sister's daughter Becky...

There were firepits set up outside, with outside activites. Indoors there was a ball pit for little ones, dollhouse stuff, a reading of the Nativity with coloring to do, a pin-the-tail-on-the-reindeer game, by my son Joseph, and of course presents. The youth aged kids each pick a name and buy a gift for one of the kids. This year, they gave each child a number, and hid the gifts all around the meeting hall. We had brunch together (3 different kinds of quiche, bacon and sausage, grapefruit, melon, oranges and bananas, and pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream.

Dinner was spinach/cheese stuffed chicken breast, with roasted red potatoes and carrots, and a salad with honey dressing, grapefruit, and candied pecans.

Dessert: brownie/chocolate pudding, and cheesecake shooters.

Anyway, it was a fantastic day. Beyond fun.

And, it is very busy in here right now. The little girls thought it would be a good idea to put scarves over their eyes and spin around until they got dizzy. I tried to tell them they were going to get hurt, but nope, had to find out the hard way. Camille smacked right into the sharp corner of the square coffee table, hitting her knee pretty hard. That game is over now.

We are trying to plan when to do our Secret Santa...the nurses are all working different shifts on Christmas eve, Christmas morning, and Christmas night. We are thinking to do it on the 26th. I am excited, either way. I have already gotten my present from Paul, that fun trip out west, so I am all set. I have some good surprises for the kids...I tortured Evelyn by picking up one of her gifts from under the tree and having her feel it, to see if she could guess. ha, she will never guess.

Anyway.....merry Christmas!!!