Christmas 2009 - New Year 2010

I can't believe I didn't take one picture at Christmastime. Well, I took two. But it doesn't represent the wonderful time we had. The first picture is of a hand carved Nativity set purchased through Braiden in the Phillipines. The second is what I think of as a Holverson Christmas although Virgil tells me to leave his deer alone. LOL
We had Thanksgiving with the Whited side, and Christmas with the Holverson side and Melanie and her family. So I had one son at Thanksgiving, my daughter at Christmas . . . I still have another son that needs to come spend time with his Mom. I wonder if children can possibly know how much their mother loves them and wants to be with them.

Anyway, we had a Christmas Eve dinner at Blaine and Kathy's house. It was lots of fun. All but one of Virgil's children was there and one of mine was there. Of course we had much good food in addition to the good visiting.

Christmas Day Melanie's family came over from Christmas dinner. I cooked my first prime rib. Wow was it good! Virgil thinks it was because I baked it in a dutch oven, I think it was good because of the way I prepared it. LOL

We had ham and black-eyed peas for dinner on New Year's Day. Jeff made the black-eyed peas. And we had fried okra - Wal-Mart made that. Melanie made a deelicious apple pie - she even made the crust. It was yummy AND pretty. Melanie and family were here, Wendy and Dan, Shannon, Brody and Jocelyn, Sherrie and Ambria. I love having a house full of family.

TODAY - we had a nice snowfall yesteray and last night. Clean up was a neighborhood affair. We live in the best neighborhood in the world. Virgil and Dan went out to shove the driveway, but help was soon to come. This is what I would call a beautiful winter day. And something funny - it's 32 degrees in Idaho Falls and 29 in Oak Ridge. I'd be willing to bet it feels a lot warmer here than it does there. :-)