Is It Christmas Already?

Can you believe it's that time of year again?

Yesterday we celebrated Ron's family Christmas gathering.

We went to the Sand Run Metro Park and had rented the Shady Hollow Pavilion which is a beautiful log cabin complete with kitchen facilities, inside bathrooms, wood burning heater, tables, chairs and what a view. The place was perfect for this gathering.

A park ranger even stopped in every few hours to add more wood to the fire for us. What service! With a fire roaring, plus 30 or so people in the cabin, it got pretty toasty in there.

As you can see, even Phil went in costume! Sammie and Caleb were thrilled to see Santa, but nothing like little McKenna who thought this was her best day ever with her new best friend Santa! She has her head laying over on Santa's hand and I wish I had a picture where Santa went for a walk with the kids and McKenna was holding on to him as if her life depended on it! Way too cute!

We all ate our fill (of course, Ron took his famous Ranch Beans!), had a great time with family. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that one of the brightest spots here is seeing Ron's cousin Tom and his wife Margie. I've mentioned before that Tom was made for picking on! And, boy did he fulfill his duty yesterday! Anyway, the kids all enjoyed opening their presents, as did the adults.

For this gathering, each couple has to make a home made gift for each other couple. I crocheted a little present for everyone, someone else made home made salsa (YUM!), someone else made home made note cards from photos and drawings. This packet even included pens and stamps! Way cool. There was a tortilla soup mixture to make your own cup of soup, complete with a Christmas cup! My personal favorite (sorry but it's true!) is Sarah Beth's home made buckeye candy! I tell her every year that if she quits making that candy, I'm not going to any more parties! They are absolutely the bomb!! So you get an idea of home made gifts.

It's a great idea on a gift exchange. It's something personal from everyone and it comes from the heart.

After the gift exchange, we had our second annual white elephant gift exchange. Every adult brings in something small and we pick numbers to see the order we pick presents. The best part is that if someone before you picked a great prize, you can steal their prize instead of picking a new present from the stack. This year everyone was way too nice. There was minimal stealing. Last year, presents were flying back and forth all over the room! Oh well. There is always next year.

So there you go. Like it or not, Christmas time is indeed here.

If anyone else making buckeyes, please invite me! I travel for candy.