New Year's Eve

Jim and I both were down with nasty "Christmas Colds" so we didn't fell like doing anything special. Jim and Cathy had their belated Christmas get-together with Cathy's family. Her brother, Matt and his family and her Mom came and they spent a nice evening together. It wasn't a late night as Jim had to do his first shift of the new year on Sunday.

Wednesday-December 28th

Today Jim and Cathy took a day for themselves and went to Syracuse for shopping and dinner out. Jim, Jennifer and the boys went to "The Four Seasons" to do some tubing and they had a great time. The hill was icy from the rain yesterday and was very fast. The only disadvantage was the mud at the bottom of the hill, a lot of  which they managed to bring home with them. Needless to say, the washer and dryer were called into use to get the boys coats clean before their trip home tomorrow.

Tuesday-December 27th

Today Jim and Chris spent some time going over what Chris is learning in science at school this year. It's always amazing how much more they are being taught now then when we were in school. After lunch we went to Syracuse to see the movie " War Horse". It was a great movie. We returned home to have a wonderful meal of Crock-Pot Mac and Cheese-one of the boys favorites.

Monday-December 26th

This year Jeremy and Emily spent Christmas day with Emily's family in Hancock and came to our house on Monday. They will alternate each year so next year we will have them with us on Christmas Day. They arrived around 4pm and, after opening their gifts from us and our opening the gifts from them we had a great meal of Lasagna with tossed salad and Italian bread. Jennifer had made her fabulous Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake for dessert. It was like having Christmas all over again.

Christmas Day

The kids all arrive at the house about 8am to the smell of baking cinnamon rolls. Once everyone is here we start opening the gifts. With eleven people it takes quite awhile as we open items one at a time so everyone can see what the other person received. We each take a turn and usually Jennifer passes out the gifts but, since the boys were here this year, we let them do it. About 1pm we head to Watertown to my Mom's house where all the sisters and our brother gather along with tons of nieces, nephews and cousins. Mom always prepares a complete Christmas dinner after which we open more gifts. We usually head for home around 6pm tired, but happy after a long day. This year Jennifer put the boys gift in a Barbie game box as a gag. They were very pleased when they open it to find a years subscription to "Game Fly" and not a Barbie Video Game.

Christmas Eve Night

We have a tradition of making all kinds of snack type food for Christmas Eve. The kids all gather at the house around 5 pm and we enjoy the food and then spend the remainder of the evening playing board games and laughing ourselves silly. Around 10 pm we place all the gifts under the tree and everyone goes home to anxiously wait the opening of the gifts on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve Visit from Santa

Jim's brother, John, and his sister, Colleen, portray Santa and Mrs. Claus at Christmas time. They appear at various public functions as well as visit private homes when invited. They stopped in to see us on Saturday afternoon to our great delight. Santa's white hair and beard are real.

December 24th-Jack Treats Boys to Bills Game

The Buffalo Bills were playing a home game on Christmas eve this year and since Jim and Cathy are here for Christmas Jack took the boys to the game as their Christmas gift from him. They had a fabulous time and got to meet a few of the "Buffalo Jills". They were treated to Bills hats and all the food they wanted. Inside they got to see John Elway who was in the suite behind them.