Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas Evening

Andersons and Ben, came out for the normal Sunday evening dinner, which was Christmas Eve this year. I only got a couple of pics of the table...nothing else from dinner. We had roast, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, cranberry salad, fruit salad, pie, and ice cream. Then Andersons spent Christmas morning and Christmas day at home and came back out with us Christmas evening. We had dessert and gifts. As you could see from my previous post...this year was "Christmas Lite"... very easy on the gifts this year. Each of the boys got a book or a puzzle from GG and then various robot toys from us. Ron got a new pair of work boots. I got some new animals for my Willow Tree nativity set. Mom got a couple of shirts and peppermint ice cream. Sam and Audrey (and Ron) got socks- lol. I got a picture book from our Boston trip last year, and homemade soap and blue bonnets ;) GG also got the soap and blue bonnets and a Butterfly Garden. My pictures from opening up gifts didn't turn out very well... too much "movement" for my camera to capture ;)

Christmas 2016 vs Christmas 2017

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show a photo from Christmas last year (when everyone was at our house) and with this year (only the Andersons and doing Christmas lite- haha). Same tree...same room... alot fewer gifts :)

Christmas Items

I made a wreath for Audrey and also one for me. I had Heather make the cute little crocheted gnomes to give as gifts to the ladies that we visit. I bought a dozen small "Nothing Bundt Cakes" to give as birthday gifts. I made the chocolate-brownie-rain-deer-treats to give to Eli, Noah, Grassie kids, and Barton kids. One of the Sunday evenings before Christmas, I had the graham cracker

gingerbread houses and trees ready for Eli and Noah to decorate. The last pic is a little ribbon and holly, and boughs wall decor.

Random Christmas Decor

Here are a few pictures of my Christmas decor. I don't know exactly why I take pictures of this stuff... maybe just to look at later, when I don't have the ability to decorate any more- lol.

SNOW in Texas

This doesn't happen very often. First time for us in Bandera. While we were in Katy, it happened a couple of times. Beautiful on the trees and bushes. It is strange to see snow falling into the swimming pool :) Everything in the news and on Face Book was about SNOW. Everybody in Texas excited about that. It stayed all night and this morning still on grass, trees, roofs etc, but clear roads. We went to a Christmas breakfast for Bridlegate neighbors at the Flying L. Then I went to the HEB in Boerne. By mid day it was 55 degrees and all the snow was gone.

Bird Guests

This was an amazing group of yard guests! They haven't been here before. Not sure if they are "coming or going"...but beautiful birds.

A Few Thanksgiving Items

Mike, Carrie, and the boys came to our house for Thanksgiving. They arrived late Wednesday afternoon. That evening we went to the 11th Street Bar, in town. (Wed evenings are always, cook-your-own-meat-family-night. And the Wed before Thanksgiving is also get-a-turkey-fried. Tons of people there. We went with the Simmons, John prepared the turkeys to fry and made a reservation for our group. It was fun...not exactly kid friendly...but okay.) On Thursday morning Mike and Carrie ran a half marathon in San Antonio. I cooked dinner and had it ready about 1 pm. On Friday the Thompsons went to SA to the Alamo and to a restaurant with 3 lb cinnamon rolls. Ron and I went to a movie in Kerrville. On Saturday morning the Thompsons went to SA again...new tires on the car and some shopping.  Mike came back with a great cake for Carrie's birthday and we ordered Chinese food for dinner. Here are just a few random "food pics". (Mostly from Carrie's birthday...but a few from Thanksgiving dinner.)