Christmas 2013

The weekend before Christmas we had the Evenhouse family Christmas celebration with my side of the family.  I had a busy week, and ended up doing most of the food prep late on Friday night.  Our friend Travis was in town from Oklahoma, and he and Jake came over for supper and karaoke.

Singing and making apple pie...I can multi-task!  Sorry it is sideways--it is right side up where it is saved on my computer, but keeps loading sideways.

Laurel and Uncle Crisco, aka Jake

Travis and Laurel

 I believe I handily won this round of karaoke!

On Saturday we drove to Pella for Evenhouse Christmas.  We started at 9am with breakfast, including Carrie's homemade cinnamon rolls...possibly one of my most favorite foods in all creation.  We had hoped to open present in the morning, but my brother had asked for the wrong weekend off from work, so had to work until 3pm.  So we got to hang out, play games, eat lunch, watch Wipeout, sort the presents 3 or 4 times, and then finally open when he got home!

 Mom had put together a game for us.  She took all of our faces and photoshopped them into famous people's bodies.  By famous people I mean Harry Potter, Tinkerbell, Dora, Captain Jack Sparrow, etc.  We   had fun trying to figure out all the faces and characters, and Mom had silly prizes for everyone.

Doug shows off his "arm tattoo sleeve."  Looks almost real!

Laurel managed to take a nap on my lap.

Crammed around 3 tables for lunch.

 Jim got off work at 3pm, so at exactly 3:01, every one of us with a cell phone sent him a text message telling him to hurry home so we could open presents!

Laurel enjoyed ripping off the wrapping paper and playing with boxes.

I gave Scott a 50 mm fixed lens for our camera.

Carrie and Tim received "Cutt'n & Strutt'n" this year.  This movie has been passed among family members since I won it as a Sportsman's Club dinner at church a number of years ago.  3 1/2 hours of turkey hunting, including the best turkey fight every caught on film!  

We gave laurel a ball slide.  It didn't take her long to figure it out!

Garion loves giving Laurel hugs and kisses.

 We decided to just stay home on Christmas Day.  We took a couple family photos before opening gifts.

I give Scott a rock or stone every year for Christmas...I try to remember to pick one up somewhere cool on vacation--Charleston, the Ozarks, Gettysburg, etc.  In the Bible, the Israelites erected a large stone called Ebenezer, and it was a reminder of the faithfulness of God to them for all generations.  I give rocks to Scott as a reminder of my love and faithfulness to him!

Peekaboo!

I am soooooo excited!

Laurel received this play station from Uncle Lance and Aunt Dorothy.  She loves it...as you can see because she spent a lot of time kissing it.

My parents went on vacation to northern Arkansas during Christmas week, and took two of my nieces.  They had snow on Christmas day for the first time in 80 years, and everything at the resort and in town was closed for the whole week.  

Uncle Jim came to our house for Christmas Day.  We did another round of karaoke, played Mexican train dominoes, ate, and watched the Doctor Who Christmas special.  Fun times!

 We will be heading out to visit Scott's mom after New Year's, so there is still more Christmas to come!