Twas the Eve of Christmas Eve...

Sunday evening the 3 families from the Tri-cities joined us for dinner and gift exchange. Our Army son came back from the other side of the mountain to be here with us. This was the chance for me to have 4 of our 6 children together and see the most of my grandchildren in one place so it was the best time for them to open their gifts from G-ma and G-pa.  It wasn't all that I planned at first to give them...being sick so long made me go to Plan C.

 This is the children patiently waiting for the time to open gifts.  They always ask who gets to open their gift first?? Some years we start with the youngest and go one by one, or the oldest goes first then the rest in age order.  This year Uncle Jeff passed out the gifts to every one and I told him to say "GO".  That was fun to watch.
We had eaten our dinner by this time.  Grandpa got home in time to slice the Ham for us. With the Ham, we had- Potatoes & gravy, Cranberry sauce (Fresh,again), Hot rolls, Green Beans, Coleslaw, fruit and pickles. Everything was COLBY-safe except for the sour cream and butter some of us put on our potatoes and rolls. I saw one smart grandchild that used two plates so he didn't have to go back for seconds.  For dessert I made some Sugar Slice n bake cookies that NaDell's oldest girls helped slice.  They were the first to arrive so they got enlisted to help Grandma.  They also got to serve them to everyone.  We also passed around the peanut butter blossom cookies I showed on the Blog earlier. I told Colby he could have two of the sugar ones.  He really enjoyed the HAM, I saw him come back several times with a plate of just ham.  My Father always said, " I'd rather feed someone that was hungry".  It makes me feel good that I can make food that is allergy-free that tastes good for everyone!

NaDell took the pictures for me and has BLOG-ed already HERE. She has a fancy, newer camera and is having fun with it. She uploaded all 80+ but I can't get them to save right from Shutterfly.  I could save from Facebook easier so my pictures are mostly the same as on her Blog. I may add more pictures when I get that figured out.

This is the BIG gift from all of our Children.

We were asked to have someone take a picture of us holding a letter "C" to send to our DIL, Tina and to not ask any questions.  I've been waiting to know since October or November what it was.  Our Neighbors took the picture of us. It was nice they included the Great-Grandparents in the secret. They are holding the last 'r' in Crowther.  Each family held a letter and sent the pictures to Tina. Jeff got the assignment to finish putting it together and wrapping it. Only one of the grandchildren isn't pictured.  We need to learn how to photo shop him in!

I saved a book I got last year at a Hastings Book signing with Jan Brett. She drove her BIG bus to Walla Walla and though I really didn't know her, I went to get a book autographed.  She would only do one or all the families would have gotten one.  This one was signed for Grandpa to read to them and I thought this Eve of Christmas Eve was the best time to have him read it. The illustrations are so detailed and beautifully done.
We received a Scrabble Turbo SLAM card game from Milton's family and a souvenir of Cuba from Jeffery.

More Pictures later...