Christmas, 2019

We had a wonderful time with our children on the Saturday before Christmas.  We were so excited that they were all going to be able to come and gallop and giggle around here together. 

With ten grandchildren ranging in age from about six months to thirteen years, galloping is pretty much what happens when they are around.  Busy!  Busy!  It is a good thing, though.

Then, we learned that the youngest toddler girl woke up with a stomach bug and fever.  So, she and mom were not going to risk infecting the rest of the brood and had decided to stay home. 

Next, we learned that the youngest toddler boy was also running a fever and not feeling well.  So, he, mom, and baby sister were going to stay at home quarantined as well.  That took a little bit out of our giddy-up. 

Not only would we miss the three youngest ones, but their sweet mamas would be missed as well.  I guess thirteen out of eighteen is not so bad when trying to herd them all together but we really miss them when one is not able to join us for whatever reason and sickness is the absolute worst!

Christmas is really Mike's holiday for feasting.  He does almost ALL of the cooking.  This year I put together a casserole and Bridgette came a bit early and helped some but by-and-large, this is chef Mike's production!  Every single member of our family loves breakfast foods.  So, our tradition is to have a breakfast feast no matter what time we get together for Christmas. 

Some dishes are traditions - like the sausage and egg breakfast casserole that used to be prepared on Christmas eve so that I could pop it into the oven when we returned from the milk barn on Christmas morning and it would bake while the children were digging into their great big Santa bags. 

Mike's family traditionally had country ham because, when he was a kid, they butchered hogs around Thanksgiving and sliced up the cured hams from the previous year.  So, freshly prepared pork and good old country ham, gravy, and biscuits are served as well.  Some have just become favorites within the last few years like Mike's bacon and tenderloin. 

I think we tasted a little bit of almost every part of the pig!  Sausage balls, bacon, tenderloin, ham, country ham...  We added scrambled eggs and sausage breakfast casserole and sides of hash brown casserole, sugared cranberries, fresh fruit and preserves, biscuits, and sweet rolls. 

After finishing off heaping plates, we dug into sharing the gifts that were piled around the tree.  Then, we did some grazing on sausage balls, peach cobbler, cereals made into puppy chow, Christmas crack, cookies, cinnamon or chocolate pecans, coated pretzels, and more meat-filled biscuits and fruit. 

The children played, romped, giggled and the adults chatted, swapping tales or ideas and Mike and I sat by and smiled at one another across the room taking it all in.

When the grown-ups started gathering things up and loading their vehicles, we started packing a care package to send home for the missing mamas and sicklings. 

The Grands (appearing from eldest to youngest in attendance):

Lillie 

Cassie

Evie

Lydia

Harris

Levi

Luci

The grown-up children (in reverse order):

Bryan (and we missed his wife, Jessica, and little one, Linley)

Stephen (and we missed his wife, Bonnie, and little ones, Easton and Abby Lee)

Bridgette and her husband, Corey

Laura and her husband, Paul

We love them all deeply and hope to have lots more times together full of feasting, giggling, galloping, chatting, and swapping tales!  We truly feel blessed and humbled to have such a fabulous family and grateful to have the opportunities together sharing love and building memories.  We hope you and your loved ones enjoyed building memories as well!