Exactly three weeks after our Family Thanksgiving, we gathered again for our Family Christmas! Our daughter, Cristy, and family had come up from Dallas for Thanksgiving, and for Christmas, we were blessed to have Seth come from San Francisco! Together with our one son and three daughters (and their families) who live nearby, and also Gary's brother, and my father, we were a group of 18 for Christmas! So incredibly thankful for family ...
We chose a different menu for our Christmas - sukiyaki! A fun dish that is cooked in electric frying pans right at the table - and so delicious! The top photo above shows us in the kitchen after the meal, cleaning up together. There isn't much that brings me more joy than to have our grown kids home - and also, in the kitchen with me!
The grandkids had a lot of patience to wait until mid-afternoon for the opening of presents! Christmas is so much fun with children - we enjoyed watching six grandkids opening their gifts (Levi - 11, Ali - 6, Cruz, Jake & Cole - all 4, and little Eva - 1). Of course, there were gifts for the rest of us as well ... but the greatest gift of all is just being together.
Later in the evening we put out a spread of snacks and goodies for all to enjoy while we played games together ... maybe a favorite part of our Christmas together.
So much to be thankful for at Christmastime ... the Greatest Gift of all, JESUS ... the gift of a loving family ... and expressions of love as we share gifts of love, good food, and presents together.