We had such a wonderful Christmas season this year. I truly did not want it to come to an end. Our family had more parties and gatherings to attend this year than in the past years. We started with our first Christmas party at our friends Nita and Bomber the weekend of Thanksgiving. They are the Griswolds of today when it comes to decorating and they held nothing back again this year. Rhianna joined this celebration this year just to see all of Aunt Nita's decorations. She was the only little person there so she gladly took in all the special attention.
The first weekend in December we had our Vander Giessen family Christmas. We (my Dad's three sisters and each of their kids and their children) all met at Jenison Bible Church and packed the house for a wonderful potluck dinner, games, and fellowship.
The following weekend we had Corey's Applebee's Christmas breakfast on Saturday morning. Wow! He has a wonderful group he is working with. I enjoyed meeting the faces I have heard so much about.
Sunday, Rhianna had a part in the Christmas program at church playing Lilly. She had fun and she did great! Corey's mother was able to come in from Jackson along with her husband and a grandchild and a great grandchild. We all sat in the very front row proudly watching our littlest star. After church, we met at Monelli's for lunch and then they headed back as the snow quickly started to fall.
Thursday I had our office Christmas luncheon. Twelve of us women and Doctor met at the Lily Pad in Byron Center. We were missing one sweet lady as she had a house fire in the early morning and lost everything. Our celebration was dampened by the news but we gathered around this young woman and her family in her great time of need. I am in awe as we hear the stories of God's protection and provision.
The following Sunday we had our family Christmas dinner and celebration. My siblings had decided we would not exchange gifts with each other or the cousins but that we would have a separate "sleepover" party. We had a wonderful dinner and exchanged gifts with Nana and Papa and ate many yummy appetizers and treats throughout the evening.
Ashley and Lucas
Christmas eve and Christmas day we had no plans outside of our home. Rhianna opened her gifts Christmas eve and we spent Christmas day all together. Christmas presents were wrapped and placed under our Christmas tree one night about week before Christmas. The next morning I found Rhianna in front of the presents giggling. She explained to me that she was getting the Wii. I asked her what made her think that and she proudly proclaimed she just knew! Last year my parents gave us money for Christmas and I really wanted to get the Wii then but Corey had been out of work for the prior month and he felt it was more responsible to buy meat so that is what we did. Throughout the last year if Rhianna spotted a Wii in a store she would make a point of telling us, "There is the Wii that Dad won't let us have!" That bugger! Corey and I searched high and low for a box the same size, filled it with two 5lbs bags of flour and a mold to make snow forts, wrapped it identically to the Wii present, replaced the present under the tree. She was disappointed upon opening the gift to find the box was not a Wii however Corey gave her a gift with a clue sending her to another clue which sent her to the real Wii present. Disappointment quickly changed to pure excitement! Our family has enjoyed every minute playing together sharing many laughs as Wii play!
Christmas eve and Christmas day we had no plans outside of our home. Rhianna opened her gifts Christmas eve and we spent Christmas day all together. Christmas presents were wrapped and placed under our Christmas tree one night about week before Christmas. The next morning I found Rhianna in front of the presents giggling. She explained to me that she was getting the Wii. I asked her what made her think that and she proudly proclaimed she just knew! Last year my parents gave us money for Christmas and I really wanted to get the Wii then but Corey had been out of work for the prior month and he felt it was more responsible to buy meat so that is what we did. Throughout the last year if Rhianna spotted a Wii in a store she would make a point of telling us, "There is the Wii that Dad won't let us have!" That bugger! Corey and I searched high and low for a box the same size, filled it with two 5lbs bags of flour and a mold to make snow forts, wrapped it identically to the Wii present, replaced the present under the tree. She was disappointed upon opening the gift to find the box was not a Wii however Corey gave her a gift with a clue sending her to another clue which sent her to the real Wii present. Disappointment quickly changed to pure excitement! Our family has enjoyed every minute playing together sharing many laughs as Wii play!
New Year's eve we had our "sleepover" party at Nana and Papa's. We started our time together playing the Wii on Papa's big screen. We had dinner together and then I planned several surprises. First, we made a "hand print family tree" as a host/ess gift for Nana and Papa, played the "cookie face race" game, made chocolate snowballs to pass out to shut-ins from our church, decorated sack bags for the Kids' Food Basket, and watched a 20 minute DVD I put together of the last year of memories. We ate crackers and cheese with sparkling juice as we watched the ball drop. Each of the little cousins made it to midnight too! Saturday morning I woke up to sweet little faces greeting Auntie Jen. I loved EVERY minute. We ended our party at Terry Hall for some rollerskating. The rollerskating brought each of us down memory lane as it had been at least 20+ years since the last time we were there.
Sunday, January 2nd we had our final Christmas party with the Williams family in Jackson. We celebrated at the home of Corey's brother, Brock and his wife, Stephanie. Brock's two older children were there with each of their kids along with Brock's youngest, Torrie. Corey's mother and husband Dick also came. We enjoyed good food and time together.
Wow, Jen, you sure know how to plan a party! The memories of those two days together will last a long time. We all had a wonderful begining of 2011! Thank you for all your time and engery in putting it all together. God has blessed us as a family and you have a way of bringing out the fun side for all to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are hilarious and the WII was a HUGE hit...loved watching the competion on all levels. The food was yummy and those little youngins were not about to go to sleep till that ball came down in Times Square...and they didn't! Go them! The grandchildren's tree will serve as a wonderful reminder of the event (especially when I don't remember my name anymore). You probably have this year's party all planned, huh?
Love ya, Honey,
Mom