Christmas Day

It was very informal. We were invited to Sarah and family. It's easier for the younger boys and Wade's parents were visiting too. Sarah had said "any time". I think we were there shortly after noon.

The weather was incredible. See the boys in shorts? It was a blessing because we are all mindful about the virus and wanted to be outdoors as much as possible. As it turned out even the dinner in the evening was still outdoors in the screened porch. It could not have been any nicer. 

Sarah taught everybody a new card game "Exploding Kittens". Sounds horrible but it's not bad. Not really sure why that name. It seems a bit complicated but everybody had fun.

The biggest fun of the day was 'the gnome'. After we had found the geocache in the 'gnome hiding place' especially Owen was obsessed about asking about gnomes. Helen by chance had seen the white gnome when she was in a store for $1 and could not resist. 

On arrival she had put it somewhere on a shelf in the living room. They were familiar with the elf-on-a-shelf and were excited when adults kept secretly moving the gnome around. It was hilarious. The boys (except William) could not understand how that could happen. 

Hard to believe this is Christmas Day in North America and not in Down Under Australia or New Zealand. A quiet moment for Omi, even taking a selfie.

Boys doing boy things. Caleb got a new fire starter from Santa. He had to try it out and it did. He started fire with a bit of gift wrapping. 

Christmas dinner on the porch. James and I had brought one of our card tables and two folding chairs. Everybody was comfy. Wade's family traditional Christmas dinner is beef tenderloin with twice baked potatoes and napa salad. It was cooked/done to perfection. So nice. 

The boys had all been gifted with comfy cudly cozy wraps and were showing off with them.

But no Christmas dinner is complete without 'crackers' when enough British blood is in attendence. You have to have a paper crown on your head and guess the trivia question. And some of those jokes... 

And then it was time to say good-bye because Helen and William were leaving early the next morning.

December 26

At 6am William was standing next to our bed to wake us. At 7am they were on their way back to TN. William texted once in a while about their progress. But the first text was this:

VIDEO of the voice text      (0:35 minutes)

Well, which grandmother would not be delighted with this?

And yes, I still had a wonderful birthday. This is lunch (made and served by James) on our patio. Oh, the lovely sun!

And our oldest camelia is giving as happiness for continually showing us beautiful flowers since October. 

And of course William had texted when they were safely home. Thanks for visiting!