AND THEN IT WAS OVER...

Merry after Christmas friends. Seems like things got so darn busy that I didn't have time to post anything for a few days - although I did sneak on the computer to catch up on what you've been doing. We are closing the shop until next Wednesday (January 2) and heading up to the Little House for a few days. I think this is the 12th year that we have celebrated New Years up north. We're so excited that Earlene and Norm are coming up to join us for a night!

My VERY best Christmas present this year was our little Dickens. He has filled a huge void and I have instantly fallen in love. He's still a little loud at night when he goes in his crate, but Dick brings him to bed every morning at about 5 a.m. for some snuggle time.

I can't remember the last time I saw my mom so excited. She couldn't wait to get her hands on him when we brought him home. She loves to set and rock him in her big chair.

We had so much fun on the 22nd! Dan Hayes played in Zanie Janie's and actually sang "Dickens the Brown Nosed Boxer" to our sweet puppy. As you can tell, he is fast becoming the "townie" dog.

Our family time began on Christmas Eve afternoon at daughter Amanda's home. This year we made the rounds and had a ball. Just look how our Gannon has grown this year! Almost 6'2"!!!

It was so nice to spend time with Amanda, Greg, Gannon, Jack, Ellie and Caroline.

Caroline just loved snuggling with Dickens. I don't know if she'd ever seen a puppy so small.

Jack loved his gifts and we can't wait to have a "Battleship" tournament!

And, of course, our Ellie is always a joy.

On Christmas morning we got up and drove to son Rich's new home. Val made beautiful cinnamon rolls and Rich made some famous biscuits and gravy.

Little Peyton (our youngest grandchild) absolutely had a ball! I'm loving his new construction hat!

Sydney, our princess (she really does think she is a princess), was crazy about her castle. We spent quite a bit of time coloring the outside of it.

I was so glad that Mom was able to get around to everyone's house with us this year and enjoy the great-grandchildren.

I personally had a ball with all of them!

Then at 4 p.m., Ashley, Tony, Abbey and Lucy got here followed by Chad and Kim. I'm so sorry my pictures didn't turn out very well at our house. It was beyond fun to watch them open their gifts.

I had a feeling that Chad would be crazy about little Dickens - and I was right! It was truly two days worth of countless blessings and I'm so sorry to have it end so quickly. By the way, I'll have to show you the BEAUTIFUL prim cupboard Dick built for me in my next post. What a surprise! Happy New Year to you all and we'll talk again next week. Until next time...