We went home for a late family Christmas get-together this weekend.  The was gumbo, and desserts, and babies to rock.  I did some figuring when we got home and there were 31 of us.  That’s a lot of gumbo 🙂 The weather was not too cold so the kids were able to get outside and run a bit which was a blessing!

I met my new great-nephew for the first time and it turns out he has impeccable taste.  Every time he needed a nap I was the one who could get him to go to sleep.  It turns out that he prefers Elton John’s “Daniel” over Barney songs.  He is the most easy going, serious, snuggly baby. We got in the rocking chair and I would sing quietly and he would lay his head down and just stare up at me and in a few moments his little eyes would close and he would be out like a light.

I got the nicest gift from my sister-in-law.  It was a necklace that belonged to Dale’s mother.  She always wore it at Easter since it is shaped a little like an Easter egg but it could be worn anytime.  I always thought it looked so pretty on her, so it means a lot to me that Pam gave it to me.

I guess we are officially old and set in our ways because we woke up Sunday morning at 3:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  Not wanting to wake anyone else in the house, we snuck out thinking we could find somewhere that I could get coffee.  We might have found somewhere if we wandered around town long enough but we ended up at WalMart.  WalMart is actually pleasant at the time of morning.  we saw three people who were not employed by the store the whole time we wandered around there.  By the time we got back to the house Pam was up and ready to cook piles of eggs, bacon, biscuits, and sausage gravy which was consumed almost as soon as It was cooked.

I got in a walk after breakfast and saw a couple of deer.  The house is about 3 miles from the main road so you never know what you will see.  It was quiet and peaceful.

Everyone started loading up to go home after breakfast and it looked like some kind of mass exodus.  We left around 10:30 in the morning to come home and by the time we got home we were so sleepy. Starting your day at 3:30 has repercussions later but we are glad to be home and rested and ready to get back in our routine.