Christmas breakfast at our home

My word, I've never had someone begging me for another blog post. Thanks, Laura! I simply ran out of time when I was posting earlier in the week, and due to the great smoke detector crisis I was unable to post again. More about that later...whenever Laura persuades me to write again.

On Christmas morning, we were honored to have John's whole family for a late breakfast. Here we have the dining room and then the breakfast room, ready and waiting for the festivities to begin.

Nana and Grandpa Al brought my children their presents. Vera was elated to receive this basketball game. I recently signed her up for Angel League basketball...I can't wait for those blog posts!
Emma and her cousin Drew, working hard on one of Ella's toys! Come to think of it, I haven't seen that toy since Christmas...Drew, you have some explaining to do!
Luke with his 17 year old cousin John...what a difference 5 years makes during adolescence.
Cousin James, who so kindly volunteered to put together Vera's basketball game. He did a great job, too.
The big hit of Christmas gifts was Guitar Hero for the Wii. Song is very good at it, too.
The matriarch and her man...Nana and Grandpa Al. After both losing their spouses, they found each other and have the sweetest love story! They are about to celebrate their 8th anniversary and our family adores Grandpa Al.
John, post shower, post breakfast, ready for the day.
After the breakfast stuffing, we had a long trip to John's sister's home...two doors down. We had a wonderful and traditional Christmas meal with the whole family, plus a few extra friends of my nieces. One niece has a new friend--an exchange student from Germany with impeccable English skills, and decent photography skills, too. She was kind enough to take these photos of our whole family--all the grandchildren/grandparents first, then all the family together. Very nice!

Finally, the ugly side of Christmas at the Spicer home....trash, and lots of it. Yes, our rural trash company will actually take the trash in this form, and sometimes in even worse form! So my suggestion, as I look at this nasty pile, is that next year perhaps we should shop from the Samaritan's Purse catalog...sponsor a child's adoption...send money to an orphanage...something that doesn't require several carbon offset credits.
Merry Christmas, everybody! Hope it was worth the wait, Laura. ;-)