Holiday Highlights

Greeting Blogger Viewers! Happy New Year.

Christmas is over, and the new year seems to have snuck up on us again. The last several weeks have been a blur. In a way, I'm glad things have slowed down, but I love the holiday season so much that I already miss it (sniff, sniff). One of my observations this year is that there are a significant number of people who actually HATE the season. Believe me, I know what it is like to have lost loved ones. I can also understand the pressure of feeling like you have to buy stuff for everybody you know, but here's something to think about; as far as buying presents for everybody, they probably won't remember if you didn't get them anything. Honestly, can you remember 1 present you got last year, and who gave it to you? But before this gets all negative and stuff, and people start leaving me nasty comments about bringing them down, let me say that this has been one of best seasons I've had in many, many years. As a family, we spent more time together doing "Christmas" things, we spent more time with friends and family, and together we celebrated the birth of Jesus, and these things are what the season are really about. That said, here are the highlights of our Christmas week:

We kicked off the week by going up to Bill and Liz's Holiday open house. This year was nice, because it was mostly family. We got to see Alisa's kids, whom we haven't seen since Naomi's wedding several years ago. We even had a nostaligic conversation with Alisa about childhood memories. We realized that we all are scarred for only getting 1/2 package of hot coca when we were kids, so now we overcompensate by using at least 2 per cup. Also thinks like "smell my butt and see if I farted."

On the 19th our Bible study and their families came over and we made Candy Canes. Yes, we made Candy Canes - real ones - like the hard candy kind. I have been making Candy Canes for the last 4 years. If you want more details, you'll have to leave me a comment, or send me an email.




Christmas Eve we were at Dan and Mindi's. I didn't have the camera with me, so no pics. (Check Mindi's blog.)

Christmas morning we were at home with the boys. The best part about the morning was the smiles on their faces.


Christmas afternoon we were at my moms. What we'll remember most is the utter chaos that ensued once the present passing started. Josh, Caleb, and my nephews Matt and Jacob, passed out the presents, and as soon as somebody got one, it got opened. But the boys didn't wait for that person to fininsh before the next present went out, so it seems like we got through the whole pile in about 42 seconds. After the paper settled, we looked around to see what everybody got. It was awesome.

Lastly, on the day after Christmas, we went to cousin Marks for the Pike family Christmas. When my cousins, brother, and I were growing up, we looked forward to Christmas Eve at Grandma Pikes more than any other day of the year. After Grandma passed away, the tradition kind of died. A few years later my dad passed away, and we decided we needed to bring the tradition back. But since we've all grown up and have other family commitments, Christmas Eve wouldn't work. So for the last 6 or 7 years, we've done the 26th. That's our new day. It's also interesting because the Pike boys do most of the cooking. I make duck, Uncle Joe makes wild rice, Joe, Mark, and Mike make the sides, and Liz and Naomi usually do deserts or whatever sides we don't do. Considering more than half of the boys are bachelors, the food is always good, and we are alway stuffed when we leave. We've also seen the family grow, as Cousin Joe had two boys, and my little sister, Naomi, and her husband, Aaron, have added two boys (they're all cute!) It's also commical, because Naomi isn't a Pike by blood, yet her first two offspring were boys, as has been with the Pikes for more than 100 year!


That's about all for this entry. I think it's long enough. I'll start working on the Bass Lake entry next. We went to Bass Lake with Dan and Mindi (and Kaylee and Nicholas and Keith and Jeannie and Mom and Dad) for New Years. Highlights to come...