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Well we've almost made it through another holiday season.  It's a little sad isn't it?  I love the hustle and bustle and merriment and mirth and cookies...the cookies are a very important part of my Christmas.

The week went by in such a flash that it hardly seems real now.

This year was a very different Christmas.  We had Georgia our English friend with us, we are in a different house in a different state, we have a newish dog, and our plans reflected that.

I told you before that we had gone to Natchitoches on Saturday and because of the rain on Friday we had to forgo our plans and move them to Sunday.  Did you follow that?

Sunday found us in Marshall to go ice skating, walk around the square, and go to Walk to Bethlehem.  W to B is our former church's live Nativity set amongst the backdrop of their prayer walk through the woods.  It is one of my favorite events of the season.  If you are in the area, I highly recommend going through the Nativity.  It is free and peaceful and reverent and quiet and introspective - all the things that general Christmas events are not.  Plus you get cookies.  ;)

Monday was our only day to prep for the upcoming parties and get-togethers.  Our neighborhood friends the Wardens popped by for dinner.  Actually, it went down a little more like this:  their daughter Ashley was over hanging out and playing cards with Diva and Georgia.  It was getting close to when she was to go home.  (This is where the details are a little fuzzy) Ashley mentioned her mom had a ham much to big for just their family in the oven and how it would go great with the mac n' cheese and cabbage I was making.  See where this is going?  I called her mother and said to come over for dinner, bring your family and your ham.  And that's just what they did.

Tuesday, we hosted a caroling party with extremely low attendance.  Numbers don't really matter though in caroling; it's quality not quantity that's important, right?  Highlights included all of our neighbors who have glass front doors and dogs completely ignoring both and not answering their doors even though we could see them.  The neighbor who came to the door, had her hand on the door knob, then said, "Oh!  It's carolers!" and ran away.  Georgia said that was very English of them.  She did eventually come back with another family member to listen.  But my favorite moment, was when our neighbors started singing with us.

I had my first selfie taken with my niece & sister-in-law.

Christmas Eve was spent with Engineer's family eating barbecue and visiting.  Diva is one of 6 cousins who played piano and ping pong.  It is an annual tradition to see who can beat Granddaddy at ping pong.  So far, no grandkid has ever won against him as far as I'm aware.  The family thought Georgia was a riot and was the perfect photographer for our family pictures.

Georgia and Granddaddy taking a selfie.
I love that picture.

Christmas Day, we woke up and had our traditional smoked salmon and champagne breakfast after opening presents.  For lunch my inlaws, my parents, my brother and his family, Georgia and our family all went out to eat (we have an aversion to dirty dishes on Christmas Day.)  Then everyone came back to our house for coffee and dessert.  We watched "Guardians of the Galaxy" in the afternoon and picked at some finger foods and sweets.  It was a wonderfully relaxed day spending time with each other.

Boxing Day we spent with the Hermans (the family of Anything for Anthony) and celebrated with a traditional English roast dinner.

We said goodbye to Georgia on Saturday morning early then headed over to my parents' house to celebrate Christmas with them and my brother's family.  We call it "Extrava'nan'za"* since it is far more involved than just having a meal and opening presents.  My Momma always has us playing games or solving riddles or making crafts or visiting nursing homes or caroling in the neighborhood or going on a scavenger hunt before we can open our presents.  It is an all day affair since it is my Dad's delight to put us through the wringer in order to open presents.  He just wants to soak up the time spent as a family.  Who could blame him?

And now, there's no rest for the weary.
We cleaned up from Georgia's visit only to prepare the house for our annual come & go party.
Because of the party, we will be eating down any leftovers and whatever is in the freezer since I need all the space I can get for party food.

We hope you have a very blessed and happy New Year!

Sunday - Leftovers
Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Finger food buffet
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Leftovers

*Nan is what the granddaughters call my Momma.