Christmas 2015 Photo Dump

For Christmas 2014, we had all of our boys, their spouses, and their families with us, all staying under one roof.  That means five sons, four daughters-in-law, and the four grandchildren who'd been born by then (our oldest boy's three girls and our middle boy's son G-Man, who was only an infant at the time). 

Since then, two more grandchildren have been added to the fold--another girl for son #1 and a boy for our second-born.

But that doesn't mean our house was full to bursting this Christmas. You see, we got them last year; so this year, it was the in-laws' turn to have our married sons with them.   (It's only fair, after all.  Because, you know...sharing.)

So the only offspring we had with us was our baby.  (As he turns 23 in a matter of weeks, I guess it's time to accept that he's hardly a baby anymore.)  He had just moved to Germany--where he will be stationed for the next three years--in October, so we weren't sure he'd even be able to come home.  But he did.  He flew back to the States on the 22nd and had to return on the 27th, so it was a whirlwind visit.  But it was wonderful.  And it absolutely made our Christmas.

This little photo dump will tell you better than a lot of words could how much we enjoyed having our youngest with us to celebrate the birth of Our Lord.

Shopping for his nieces on the 23rd, looking for what he
called  "gateway dinosaurs"--ones that were cute enough
to get little girls interested.  (Today, cuddly stuffed ones;

tomorrow realistic Jurrassic World models: that's the goal!)

A Santa sighting at the mall.  "SANTA!!  I KNOW him!

There were some FaceTime sessions with brothers

(here on Christmas Even, with the oldest of the five

--and the youngest of his four).

Crackers were opened, crowns were donned, jokes were told.

Funny, funny jokes.

Our street has been doing luminaries on Christmas Eve for as long as

I can remember (and we've lived here for 25 years now).

Usually, many hands make light work.  But he was the lone helper this time.

(He looks happy about it, doesn't he?)

His favorite Christmas gift was this t-shirt from Target: "Seasons Greetings

from the Skywalkers."  With Darth Vader resting his arm casually on the

piano, while his kids Luke and Leia hang out by the fireplace...

(It got an even better laugh than I thought it would, so WINNER.)

Using the 10-second timer, I was able to set this shot up and hop in just

before the flash went off.  I wondered how we were going to get our gang all

together for a Christmas card picture, and this is what I came up with.

Turkey dinner on Christmas night, with two of my favorite men.

The requisite Christmas selfie, while settling in to watch "Elf." 

(Yikes, this close-up of my big round face makes me nervous.

Time to let my main man hold the camera.  There, that's better.

I will always, always miss whichever of our kids and grandkids can't be with us on any particular holiday.  But in a way, they'll always be with us, because I carry them in my heart.  Always.  You can't see them, but they're in these photos, right along with our baby.