It's a Wrap!

 And just like that we're wrapping up 2022 already! All the festivities are behind us now so it's time for the December recap. 

I started a tradition of making a gingerbread house with my grandchildren every December. I cheat, aka buy a kit. This year's version was a castle, and Avery could hardly wait till December 2 when they were allowed to decorate it. This was the first year the little people insisted on taking creative control into their own hands and Grammie was primarily a "watcher".

The next day our house was the location for a princess tea party for Avery & friends.  

So much anticipation!

They had the best of times drinking tea and playing together. 

In the evening of that same day Jeremy (uncle JJ) was in a Christmas parade for his employer, so we took the kids. It was so cold but they enjoyed it anyway. 

Jeremy was battling a flu bug but powered through the parade anyway. The following week I had quite a bit on my calendar, but I picked up the bug so instead I laid on the sofa all week aching and miserable. We all took a turn with it, so fingers crossed we're done being sick for the winter now. Got that out of the way first thing, right? Please, Lord, let it be so.  

The kids had Christmas banquets through their jobs, but the gold standard was Jeremy's banquet where they had genuine Waygu steak from Japan. 😲

Arianna bought matching Christmas jammies. All pairs of pants were too long, so Grammie was commissioned to shorten them with her handy-dandy sewing machine. I still don't know exactly how it happened but Avery's pair got shortened twice and Colton's pair not at all. 🤦

 One day we borrowed the little people to help us decorate Christmas cookies. Their enjoyment is totally worth sweeping up spilled sprinkles and wiping off sticky chairs afterwards.

When you want kids aprons in a store but they are expensive, so Grammie makes you some instead...

♪♪ Oh, what fun it is to cut snowflakes with Auntie Arianna... ♪♪

This was our first year to have a real [full sized] tree. I always did a potted Norfolk pine but I've given up on keeping them alive and well. I rather like our crooked balsam fir.  

And then Winter Storm Elliott showed up with impeccably horrible timing... To travel or not to travel, that is the question. Thursday evening we had our doubts, but Friday morning Richard checked the weather all along our route and decided that it's not going to get better anytime soon, so we packed extra blankets and warm clothes. It was -5* when we left home and this is what the roads looked like...

...but the farther east we went the better it got. The sun came out, it warmed up to the single digits, there was no snow or ice, so we knew we had made the right decision.  

Since my grands were not there, I didn't take as many pictures of my family's Christmas gathering. 

Jeremy & Arianna headed home Sunday but we stayed for additional festivities. 

My youngest niece playing with the Christmas pageant props at church Sunday

Visiting my 99 yr old Grandma on Christmas Day

A Christmas party with my Stauffer aunts and uncles was a real treat

Richard & I got up at 4:45am Monday to drive home and celebrate the holiday with our kids. It was 20* warmer [at home] than when we left, so we survived the travel in frigid temps without any calamities. 

Grammie couldn't resist buying Avery a camper since we love camping

My adult kids resist having their photo taken with their gift so poor old Mom can remember who got what... they chose to open their gifts all at the same time. Gone are the days of posing with gifts for "paparazzi Mom". I'm just waiting for one of them to take after me, caring about documenting life with photos, but so far no dice.  

It's tradition for each of the grands to get a turn blowing out the candles...

 I usually choose a word for the year, but I didn't have one for 2022. It's been a tough year. From being tired of COVID cramping our style [at the start of the year]... to losing another grandbaby...  to church problems... to supporting family through a hard & messy experience that we never dreamed would touch our lives... to ridiculous gas prices and even worse diesel prices... to my dad's heart attack... to cholesterol woes for both Jeremy & I...  If ever there was a time when we felt a need for a Messiah more keenly, it would have to be this year. Hallelujah for the HOPE that came down! 

Happy New Year to you & yours!

Cheers to 2023!