Holiday fun!

Boy, have we done a lot of celebrating since my last post! We've done some holiday baking for the kids' classrooms at school and church. We hosted some of Randy's "work" friends from Children's hospital for a yummy dinner followed by some Shawn White snowboarding on Wii (a SUPER-fun game) the Saturday before Christmas! The kids enjoyed making a huge gingerbread house with their Grandma Arlene (started two days before Christmas, finished Christmas night), as well as eating lots of candy while doing so (one to put on the house, one, or two for me)! We visited Great-Grandma Lena on Christmas Eve at her home in Reedley (she wasn't feeling up to coming to Arlene's house for the week) and a wonderful Christmas Eve service at church that evening. My favorite part was watching Violet stare into the light of her candle as we sang Silent Night! Christmas Day was enjoyed with Randy's mom and brother. Randy worked the day after Christmas. But as soon as he got home, we headed to Visalia for a get-together with the Meredith clan (my mom's side). We had a great time over dinner with aunts, uncles, cousins, and lots of kids! We spent the night at my Grandma's house so that we could have a little more one-one-one time with her the next morning. We picked up lots of pecans, walnuts, and oranges for her (although she sent most of them home with us), and then packed up to head across town for an afternoon with the Porter family (my dad's side). And finally, after a nap, a good dinner, more visiting and a few presents, we headed home for the night. I can't believe how much we did in only a week's time. And wow, we took a lot of pictures! So I put a bunch of them in a slide show for you! Clicking on the slide show will take you to a different page where you can scroll through the pictures slower, one by one. We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas week, celebrating with your own friends and family! We have enjoyed all of the calls, gifts, and cards that we have received over the past month! Thank you for thinking of us and letting us celebrate Christmas with you in that way!