Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a very relaxing (read that as lazy) Christmas. We woke up, opened our presents, and did pretty much nothing else the rest of the day. As George had smoked the meat the day before, I only had to make mashed potatoes for dinner. We napped, we relaxed, and we played with our presents. Could not ask for a better day.

We took a lot of pictures, but I'll just add a few for highlights. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

Some for me, too, Dad?

On Christmas Eve, George got in the smoking mood. No, not tobacco, smoking meat. We smoked ribs, pork butt, turkey, and chicken, and we had a fantastic Christmas Eve dinner. I also didn't have to cook on Christmas Day! Can you believe it? I love my husband!

Christmas Lights!

After vacation, we crashed on Monday night. On Tuesday, we did little, but we did manage to go to Dorothy B. Oven Park to see the Christmas lights. They were beautiful, but way too many people, including a mom who could have left her beer in the car. We'll go earlier next year.

Orlando vacation day 3

Having our fill of Sea World, we decided to go shopping! Where better to go with kids than Downtown Disney? We spent all day there, and it was a relaxing day of shopping, dining, and playing. Highlight? Dining at Raglan Road, the Irish Pub, and ice cream at Ghirardelli's (although the kids would say dining at T-Rex - we ate in the Ice Age Cave). Near the end of the night, we went to my favorite place, Virgin Megastore, and George caught the kids with the headphones on - priceless! Again, hard to pick the best pictures, so I'll post a sample.

Orlando vacation day 2

Day two, and we were off to Sea World! It was a short trip as the hotel is about ten minutes down International Drive. Saturday was beautiful in Orlando, and we could not have picked a better day to go. Sea World has changed a lot in the last 8 years (we went when Megan was a baby). The biggest change this year was that they changed the simulated Arctic helicopter "ride" to a simulated ride on the Polar Express, and the Arctic area included the courtyard and Santa from the Polar Express. It was amazing. We also got to see the Shamu Christmas show, and lots of other shows. We got so many good pictures, it is hard to choose, so I will just pick a few to share.

Orlando vacation day 1

Wow! Whose idea was it to go to Orlando the weekend before Christmas? Oh right, mine. We left on Friday after work and arrived at the Doubletree Castle Friday night. It was beautiful, and right when we got to our room, we saw fireworks in the distance from the window of our turret room. It was a great start to the vacation!

TPD Christmas Dinner

George performed his annual Christmas ritual, cooking for TPD's Christmas dinner. On the 17th, the meats were smoked by a motley gang of current and retired TPD officers, including George Jr. and Sr. Then on the 18th, George served his fellow officers and I him there for a plate of food. Like every year, the food was excellent. Don't those turkeys and hams look tasty?

Danny's Christmas Play

On Danny's actual birthday, the 12th, Danny's school put on a Christmas program. Danny was the Angel Gabriel, Messenger of God to Mary and Joseph.

After taking some time to prepare (see the 1st photo), he made a wonderful Gabriel speaking his lines out very clearly. I was very proud! Afterwards, they had birthday cake for Jesus, and then we took our "star" out for his birthday dinner at Chilis. It was a great day!
Then on Saturday, we went to the Killearn United Methodist Living Nativity called "Follow the Star". For those of you not in our city, the church builds a small town of Bethlehem that you can drive through (or ride the hayride for a more "real" experience). The story of the birth of Jesus is acted out by church members, and people come from all over town to see it. We were going to ride on the hayride, but Megan wasn't feeling well, so we drove through. It is always a sight, and if you live here, it is definitely worth going.

Party time

We celebrated Christmas with tthe Creamers and the Morets on Dec. 7th, and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins.

Here is a pic of all ten of the kids. They are getting so big!

Christmas decorating

It has been a little while so I'm catching up. Just had to get a few of the kids decorating. on the 6th. We had planned to decorate after Danny's party, but had to wait because of the torrential rains. Oh well. Looks great anyway.