The holiday season this year stretched from just before Thanksgiving clear through to New Years. And a lot happened during that time. Just before Thanksgiving our son, Stachelbeere came home from the Marshall Islands. He'd been there serving a mission there and had finished. Its so good to have him home. He's changed so much, grown so much. The beads he's wearing here are actually seashells, given to him by people he knew as he was leaving. 
When he came we had almost all the rest of the kids together as well. All but one family was able to make it to the airport to see him in. So once we had our missionary we went into town and had some lunch. We make a big, noisy crowd.
They were probably glad to see us go from the restaurant, not that we were messy or a hassle, just a noisy crowd. It was a good time. Our daughter and her family, who live out west, were able to stay for a week so we had lots of good time with them. One of the other kids lives near by with her family and brought her boys over to the house to make cookies. That was fun.
Making cookies and watching little kids help in the kitchen is so entertaining. They love it. They can be so messy. During these holidays we actually had all four grandkids together for a day. That was fun.
Unfortunately, the week ended and Heidlebeere and her family had to go back home. But it was okay because they were all coming back for Christmas! The day before everyone else got here, Erdbeere and her husband came up. This year she took a stab at making the traditional "candy cane" bread, a yummy treat we make every Christmas. Turned out pretty good, I thought.
The next day Heidlebeere and her family, along with Moosebeere and his family arrived. They actually ended up coming in on the same flight. That was fun.
We're a great group to get together and play card games. We have a pretty good selection at the house so we usually have a couple of them out. Killer Bunnies is a favorite. The Great Dalmudi is another. 
Christmas was on Sunday this year so we didn't open presents until after we'd gone to church. What a fun time it was to see everybody open their stuff. Most of the grandkids are old enough to know what presents are about. They're fun to watch. It wasn't always the new presents that were the biggest hit, tho. 
In and around all the festivities Brombeere and I both managed to get sick, which was no fun. But no one else seemed to have caught it so that turned out okay. But in the end, because we were both getting over being sick, there were times when we were exhausted by everything going on. Still we wouldn't trade a minute of it all. Its so wonderful to have everyone here. Its been a number of years since we have all been able to get together. We were already talking about when and where the next time will be. We'll have to follow up on that one. It was such a wonderful time.
It was almost like heaven.
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