Christmas 2011

We had a full house this year, and made many wonderful memories! Mom and Candy drove from Bay City to join us and brought a huge sack of fresh crab donated by our brother Chris!
Many hands make light work!

Our grandchildren made our holiday even more special! Charlotte was cutting teeth, but that didn't slow her down or dampen her spirits :-).

This marble game is one of our grandchildren's favorite things to do!

Bath time is a FUN time!

Matt always makes his one-hour rolls. They barely hit the table before they're gone!
Christmas is about family and becoming acquainted with one another. Auntie Anne enjoys a moment with niece Charlotte.

Besides family, we had a variety of visiting pets. This is Kristin's dog Gizzie.

On Christmas Eve Bill read about the birth of Christ from the book of Luke and Jesse unwrapped each piece of the Nativity and put the figures in place.

Unwrapping a wise man...

Adding the star...
Candy took a moment to read what Mom could remember about Christmas when she was growing up. This was a special time for all of us to learn about what was important to my mom as a young girl.

After reading about the birth of Christ, Bill read "The Night Before Christmas" to all of us :-).

"Goodnight Papa!"

I went downstairs and retrieved an old sleigh made by my Grandma Pearl (Mom's mother). I've had it for years! It is made from a turkey breast bone. Anne enjoyed examining it and thinking about her Great Grandma Pearl.

Kristin is holding Anne and Matt's kitten named Sheldon. He has 7 toes on each front foot!

Santa came while the children were sleeping! :-)

All the stockings were laid out...

Candy enjoyed a few minutes of reading before she retired.

In the morning we discovered that Santa had come in the night and he ate up the treats we left for him!

We discovered that Anne and Matt woke up before anyone else and had been sitting for about an hour waiting for the rest of us to get up! :-)

Bill liked what Santa brought him...a soup thermos.

Anne likes the coasters hand made by Megan!

Anne and Matt like their new "Moo" book. :-)

Paul is guarding his licorice!

Kayla (Paul's girlfriend) is opening her present from Paul: a box inside of a box inside of a box inside of a box...

Kate has a stack to go through...

Andy has something that weighs a ton. Hey, it's that dutch oven he's been wanting forever!

Megan is our book worm :-)...

It's not hard to tell that Matt likes gummy bears!

Awwwwww....Jesse likes his new pillow...

...and his new shirt!

Paul got a funny pillow from Kayla. We reminded only "real men" can do pink :-).

The Christmas clutter!

Yep...we're all having a good time!

Mom gave Bill and I a very creative gift...boxes of kindling that she cut up herself! Now we can build our fires more easily!

Charlotte likes her new hat made by her DAD and she is enjoying an activity put together by her Mom (an old wet wipe box full of connecting bits of fabric for her to pull out :-).

What child doesn't love a book?

Two sweet little faces together...

Grandma Griffin enjoying her Great Granddaughter Charlotte...

Bill went outside to get more wood and Annie jumped on his back as soon as he bent over (Paul taught her this trick!)
Charlotte giving her Great Aunt Candy a "high five!"

Dinner time!
Playing "Ticket to Ride" and eating Candy's homemade biscotti...

Mom and Bill enjoy browsing through some WWII history books and one about the Book of Mormon Lands...
Megan and I had the opportunity to play some Christmas music together (she played violin and I played clarinet). It's been a long time since we've done that, and it was a lot of fun.

I think a very good time was had by all. We are so grateful for this celebration of the birth of our Savior and for the opportunity to gather as a family and enjoy one another. We are so very blessed!