Christmas Part IV (Final Part)

Believe it or not we did more than open presents while we were home. We spent a lot of time with family and friends. Most of our activities were of course surrounded by food.

One night we gathered at the barn for oysters and hotdogs with Todd's cousins.

Gotta take time to play nintendo.

We also had our annual Christmas dinner at the Mayo's. We all brought our favorite dishes and and a steak. Jeffro threw in lobster and it was a wonderful meal. Since we all sang together several years ago, we always try to sing some of the songs we have done in the past.

Jeff and Tonya's gameroom.

Howie brings out all of our old Christmas soundtracks and we try to remember the words and the parts. We all beg Tonya and April to sing for us. They always pitch a fit. But with a little coaxing they somewhat oblige us. No Christmas is complete without Tonya singing Breath of Heaven. No one can sing it like her. No, Tonya, not even Amy Grant. To hear a clip of Tonya singing for us, head over to www.nathansuncle.blogspot.com. April says that she can't ever reach the notes but by the end of the song she is in the other room reaching them. Howie always cheats and practices his since he has the soundtracks so his always sound pretty good. The rest of us,well, we're just tolerated.

Lisa, April, Howie and Tripp.

Then on New Year's Eve we went over to my cousin Kendra's house. She is better known to us as DeeDah. She cooked a great meal of beef roast, complete with broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, salad, and apple dumplings with ice cream for dessert. It was wonderful. We played Wii with the kids and afterwords the kids did sparklers.

The sparklers were a first for Nathan.

I also had a great time with two of my long time friends, Angie and Lynn. And, of course we went out to eat. They both had mercy on me and let me pick the places, even if it's not their favorite, because I don't get to eat at Market Restaurant and Panera or eat sushi.