It has been a week since the last one left. The house is quiet and clean. No more squeals of 5 grandchildren running (or crawling) through the rooms. No more jumble of humanity playing video games, laughing, talking, hugging, eating, watching movies, going out to movies. No more sounds of remote control helicopters buzzing over my head. Loads of sheets and towels have been washed, folded, and put away. The decorations and lights have been taken down, put away into their plastic bins, and stacked neatly in the corner of a cleaned and swept garage. It was a glorious season.
The kids and grandchildren trickled in starting Dec. 16 with David coming home after a triumphant first semester at BYUI, then Allison and Dave and their crew on Dec. 21,
Laura and Rebecca (at two different airports) on Dec. 22,
Sarah and Joel and their crew on Dec. 25.
And then they trickled away beginning Dec. 31 until Jan. 4. We had 14 bodies living under the same roof for a week with Jeff and Jess dropping by frequently.
On Christmas Eve, we had 19 people here for dinner.
Our friends, the Obers, make Christmas Eve with us their tradition and we are so glad they do!
There were pajamas (of course)
And a crying present....
Mark had purchased remote control helicopters for the men, and they were a huge hit.
Jeff and David challenged each other to various feats with the helicopters, the ultimate one was landing on the slanted blade of the ceiling fan. Everyone had fun playing with them and the girls were a little miffed that they didn't get one.
The day after Christmas, Jess' mom (and Jeff's future mother-in-law) cooked us up Thai food (she IS Thai, so that made it even better!)
Cooking for this many people can be daunting, but she was a champ and the kids had fun helping out with the won tons. All of the food was soooo delicious.
One day, we went into SF and walked on the bridge and went to the Exploratorium.
In between, we lunched at Jeff and Jess' apartment and were served delicious Ruben sandwiches made by Jess. The day was spectacular and the views marvelous.
It was Annabelle's birthday on New Year's Eve, so we had another reason to celebrate.
It is always fun when the whole family gets together. It's crazy and noisy and hard work. But I love it.
