Virginia Christmas 2006

mamabealadventures
I couldn't figure out how to add to my draft so I am doing the text part to the pictures. Lest you think I am great at putting in pictures--- the credit goes to Melinda.
Christmas started for me when Quincy and Natalie said they were planning to come home for christmas. Then I had to get Melinda and Emily and families to come too, because I thought it would be very boring for Natalie and Quincy to spend it just with me.
They arrived late on 20 Dec. after a good nights sleep and a good breakfast we went out to Mount Vernon. It was a surprise to see what they had done. They have built a reception area similar to Williamsburg with an introductory film. It was very nice and a far cry from the old entrance. Ofcourse the house is still the same. We basicallv just saw the house and the view. Natalie was not up to a lot of walking and frankly neither was I. It is the wrong time of year to see the outlying buildings and the farm. That is best left to the summer time. But it was fun to see it at Christmas.
We went home and had a leisurely dinner, and a friendly game of chinese checkers which Natalie won. We also put the tree up and got it decorated. The next day Melinda and Emily arrived with their families, so we had a full house. I got the sofa by choise. I was glad all the US grandchildren were there, because they play so well together. Saturday night we had our usual crabcake dinner, and afterwards we tried to make vanilla cookies. We had to stop because it was so warm the dough kept softening up so we couldn't work with it. Ii forgot to say that we have had an unusual warm December. We had to turn the heat off all together for everyone to feel comfortable.
Sunday was Christmas eve and we had church all three hours. As usual we had a wonderful program in sacrament meeting. Nathan Pacheco started it off and it was a beautiful number. We could all have gone home after that and left edified. I left after teaching my lesson to get home and get dinner ready, so we could eat early and not have the children get too tired before the evening was over. This is the first time when all the children except the baby sat at the big table, and they didn't leave after 5 min. Matt and Emily got the almonds.
Afterwards we had a nice program with every family participating. Then downstairs for the highlight for the children "opening presents" I think everyone was happy with what they got. Thanks to my new camera I was able to get these pictures to illustrate the blog. My teeth are cleaner with the waterpick, and Trevor saw to it that I will not be sporting unwanted hair on my face with the new magnifying mirror, and I have wonderful lotion to keep my skin smooth, and cd's and vidios to keep me company. I was very happy with what I got.
We were planning to maybe play games after the children got to bed, but I think some of the adults fell asleep right along with the children they were trying to get to sleep. But we had a nice time visiting.
Then we got the Santa Presents ready and went to bed. We had to get up very early the next morning so Quincy and Natalie could get to their plane and Melinda and Matt could get to his family for their Christmas.
Fortunately Emily and Carl were able to stay for a couple more days. We had the Becksteads over for dinner, and I think they enjoyed that. The last day Emily and I went to G-Street to get material for the baby quilt for Natalie and Quincys baby. After everyone left I spent a couple of days recovering. It is great having everyone here, but I can tell it takes a lot more out of me than it used to. But it is always great to have the good memories. Thank you for coming everyone.