Christmas --2011

 Grandpa's boat for Etta. It's called the South Whidbey "punt rocker". That's the type of boat it is. It turned out beautifully. Now, to convince Etta it's ok to "rock the boat"!

 Janae made this farm for Etta. The barn and animals are so realistic. The goats even have ladders to play on. We all wanted to play "farm".

 Special times. We went to Dan and Tonya's Christmas Eve. Travis had arrived Friday so we were all very happy to see him!  Tonya had a delightful meal of Swedish meatballs and all the fixins.

 And of course "fancy" would be on the menu as well.

Back up the the log house. All of us gathered here for Christmas Day +next day.

Janae, and Kelly brought a mystery jigsaw puzzle, "Murder on the Titanic". They all enjoyed it and are here solving the crime.


Kelly fixed "choucroute" a delicious french dish. Cabbage, sauerkraut and many kinds of sausages, baked to perfection. Mashed potatoes served on the side. Justin made homemade applesauce in the slowcooker.

Terry' toys. He has a train set for younger kids on the right, then new this year was a train/slot car set that brought lots of whoops and hollers as your try to out-run the train with your slot car. We all want to learn to do that, right?

 Justin entertained with the guitar. Kids loved singing kid songs and carols. Most mesmerized was Braden. He couldn't get enough. It was pretty sweet to see how enthralled he was with it.

 Cousins--first time all 6 together since grandpa Gordon's funeral in '99.

The Thompson clan.

 The Matthews clan.

Next day: Early morning story time with cousins.

 Janae made Taco Soup, Ken and Marianne joined us too. More jigsaw, games and cookie time to finish out the day on Monday.

And a wonderful time was had by all!!  We are very, very thankful for family and friends. We were missing all the other family but know they were enjoying their families too.

Happy Holidays to all of you and Happy New Year!!