Merry Christmas to All

Dear Friend,

It has been a wonderful Christmas this year. Even with the wallets a little thinner, and never enough time-we have had some wonderful times with friends and family.

The Christmas spirit began early this month with two great parties, the first was a gathering of friends from my work place. Our managers did a wonderful job of putting this party together with lots of food and fun. Thank you for the wonderful party.

The next day I attended another gathering of friends from my favorite Quilt Store. Lots of good food and laughs and Ken and his partner, Ron provided a wonderful setting-Christmas in every room in the house. When you enjoy a Christmas party with talented friends, it is a special treat to receive wonderful gifts - home-made candies, jellies, breads and special gifts for the sewing room.

In the meantime, I managed to complete 3 Christmas quilt projects and I must say that with the completion of each, my machine quilting improves. I still have one or two Christmas projects and my new goal is to make a Christmas theme quilt every year. Wish me luck!











The Sunday before Christmas is reserved for the Hunter Family Christmas Party. By tradition, homemade Mexican food and let me share a secret with you...we have the best cooks in our little group. This is where we continue a wonderful tradition that Mom start 20+ years ago of a home-made Christmas ornament for every member of the family. This year, Shana and Kristie had made these cute ornaments- decorated mittens.








We had this chance to take some great family pictures with Dad, too.



Grandpa and his grandchildren.














Christmas Eve I am sort of on my own as the girls usually spend this time with their other families so I went to Marla and Stu's. For the first time in probably 6 years, Dad was here and is handling it better than I thought he would. Another great dinner and Marla shared this CD with us. (If you get a chance, add this to your family Christmas library. It is a recording of the MTC Christmas presentation last year and is the story of my favorite Christmas Carol-"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day".)

I have to share this wonderful treasure with you now-this is what Kristie and Shana made for me- a family photo album of my favorite grandkids.

Christmas Day is a breakfast tradition of crepes and trimmings with my family, gift exchanges and fun-followed by a relaxing day and dinner later. As for now, I think it's time for a nap.

Later, with love,
Jan

Merry Christmas Everyone

Well this day is almost over. We have enjoyed friends and family, as well as a peaceful afternoon. Oh, can't forget the ham...ham was served for a luncheon at work yesterday, went to the Lewis Compound for Christmas Eve dinner..ham and then Nikki and I prepared a wonderful, you guessed it!...ham dinner here at home. You will never guess what I am taking to work for lunch tomorrow!

All of the meals were wonderful, especially the ones I enjoyed with family. I even had a call from Mat today. He is in Arkansas with his other Vernon family and having a great time. Keep your fingers crossed, there may be work for them soon.

We had our traditional breakfast of crepes, egg cassarole and Shawn made the best "fatties" in his smokers earlier this week for us. If you have never had one of these treasures before, you must try them sometime. They are made from sausage and wrapped inside are all kinds of wonderful things-cheese, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, chili, and wonderful spices, all smoked together. What a treat. It's Christmas so I don't have to worry about cholesterol. Right!

The kids loved the gift cards I gave them. It makes shopping so much easier-especially for teens. Movie money and Barnes & Noble, the best of both worlds. I also got copies of "The Last Lecture" for the 3 oldest because I think it has such a strong message about working towards goals, dreams and learning.

We went to see a movie today. My darling daughters decided I needed to see this-http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/bedtimestories/ . It was very funny but now I remember why I don't go to movies much.

We have a wonderful tradition in our family started many years ago by Mom. She started making a homemade ornament for every member of the family. As Mom got older, she decided to let us take over. We have shared some wonderful ornaments and look forward to continuing the tradition for many generations. This year Lisa made ornaments similar to one of Mom's first one and put a sweet tag on each of them to remind us of Mom and what she started. This little crocheted stocking was also one of her first ornaments as well as the beaded icicle below. Thanks Mom for a wonderful tradition.

It's back to work tomorrow and then a couple of days off next week. I may try to go up to Vernon if the weather holds off for a day or two. Actually one of the best things about the holiday weeks is the lack of traffic. Hip, Hip, Hooray!