Broken Wrist

 Remember George's car accident way back in October?  

He was very lucky to walk away with only minor injuries, or so we thought.

5 weeks after the accident, when his wrist was still hurting quite a bit, he went to the doctor.  This x-ray showed that he had broken a bone in his wrist.  It is not uncommon for such a break to not show up on the x-rays taken immediately after an accident. Six weeks after his wreck he finally got in to see an orthopedist who put on a cast. Luckily no surgery required.

Everyone loved signing his cast!

Thanks Matt for the idea.

We think it makes a fashion statement.

The arrow actually starrted out as an ink dribble but I turned it into an arrow that points to the exact spot of the break.

Now with a little more luck, it will be healed so that he can swim when we go on our cruise in a few weeks.

Christmas Traditions

 Christmas traditions are important to me.  That's probably one reason that I have a ridiculous number of Christmas decorations.  Some of them my Grandma Boyle made before I was born, others I remember from my childhood, still more from the time when we had little kids plus so many from our trips. I collect nativity scenes and also try to get a tree ornament at each destination. I love them and find joy each year when I get them out.

Traditions of things that we 'do' are even more important.  During my growing up years, all of my Daddy's family came to our house for Christmas Eve.  First we went to our different churches for a Christmas Eve service and then all my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents came to our house for eggnog and good food.A few years  after I was married the electricity went out during the party.  Unsure what to do with a crowd in a dark house, a new tradition of singing Christmas carols together was born!  Funniest of all, we sang 'The Twelve Days of Christmas" with different people taking each verse.  My Daddy's sister, Maudie, always sang, '3 French hens' and although she could not carry a tune, she was quick to laugh at herself and that just added to the fun. After Maudie passed away, we never sang again because it was just too painful. George and I did renew this tradition when we lived in Spain by inviting all our friends over for food and carol singing on Christmas Eve.  

Our George Lewis family traditions have evolved over the years.  When the kids were little, we acted out the nativity story and also read 'The Polar Express' and of course left out cookies and milk for Santa. 

Our children all have sweet memories of first Grandpa Walt Lewis and now Grandpa George Lewis reciting the Harrison R Merril Poem

'Christmas Eve on the Desert" 

They remember all the years as little children when they didn't understand the poem at all and just felt anxious for the evening to end so Santa could come.  When they were teenagers, the beauty of the poem and the tender sentiments expressed became clear. Now it is a treasured reading every Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning we open gifts one person at a time. I love this because then you get to see the reactions as special gifts are opened.  When it is a free for all, you miss seeing the recipients delight.

Now that we have adult children and grandchildren, traditions have evolved and we seem to have hit upon the perfect mix for this stage of life.

This year I loved listening to 9 year old Isabella anticipate the Christmas traditions.  Her excitement about the games and food made all the work that goes into making this holiday special well worth the time and effort!

Christmas Eve starts with ornament making.  Every year since 2011, we have made ornaments. You can see them on our tree in this photo of Matt and Cady and their cute dogs, Millie and Baby Dog.  The boys do occasionally grumble about 'crafts' but they are good sports and make one each year!

Games are next on the agenda!  From a marshmallow toss to Christmas Tree Cup Stack to mini golf, they are all so fun.  This year we added 'Oregon Trail' and 'Left, Right, Center' to the mix.

Monica won the grand prize for the "Left, Right, Center" game and promptly gave the $24 to Isabella.

Our competitive Isabella really wanted to win the big games competition. (Although the $24 did make her happy too)  She always does want to win any game she plays but this year she really, really did.  Last year Cady suggested that I buy a trophy to pass around to the winner each year.  And I did.

Isabella coveted that trophy.

We had a Christmas miracle.

I won the game competition!

First time ever!

Isabella really did not think this was fair since I bought the trophy!

After all these years, I finally won so I am keeping it for the year.

This might be the only time I ever win.  George had the handicap of a cast on his arm.  Matt was having severe back pain. And Johnny missed the games because he was working.  Scott came in a close 2nd.

This was MY year!

Game traditions!  Ornament making traditions!  And of course food traditions!

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup with sandwich fixings....

And the oh so important to Isabella, chocolate fountain....

Her favorite thing to drizzle with chocolate -  the angel food cake!

I agree!

Christmas morning - It's all about the presents and the food again.

Breakfast pizza and cinnamon rolls!

 I made the comment that since everyone loves these two items so much, I should make them more often.

Interestingly the consensus was that I shouldn't.  They like them being special for Christmas morning.

Before and after breakfast we opened presents.

There were a lot of very thoughtful ones!

Not the most important part of Christmas but still so fun!

By the end of the festivities I felt like I should have been wearing Matt's hat.

But I would need it to say

'Tired but oh so happy!'

Next year we will be enjoying Christmas in Peru and trying to make it special for over 100 missionaries who are also far from home.

I can hardly wait!

But I will really miss all these faces!

Father's Day 2024

Pictures of 4 of my favorite 'fathers'. 

My cousin Joy died a couple of years ago and her husband died last month.  When their children were cleaning out the house, they found this photo of my Daddy. that I had never seen before.

My guess is that this was taken in 1942, just after he joined the navy at the start of World War II.

This one is an oldie but a favorite of mine.

George and our boys rocking their new German hats in Berchtesgaden 1996.

And here is Mark with Jackson on their way to church.

Any questions about what kind of Dad Mark is can be answered by looking at the Paw Patrol sticker on his car window and his GI Joe tie!

Johnny and Monica always seem to have fun together. 

He makes her laugh and is willing to act silly and play with her.

And a funny Father's Day story - 

We played a 'Would He Rather?" game and tried to figure out which of two things George would rather do.

I have known George for 50 years and been married to him for 49.

Johnny and Matt are 39 and 43.

Cady has known him for less than 2 years.

Guess who won the game?  Yep Cady.  There were 17 questions and she got 16 correct.  The boys and I each got 12.  Either she is a very lucky guesser or she is just very intuitive. Glad she is a part of the family!

Photography Fun

 Ah...the all important family Christmas photo moment....

Mom figuring out how to use her watch to take a photo

The best one

First 'squishy' attempt

2nd time's the charm!

Wildly excited for Christmas! Just look at all that enthusiasm!

Cady and Matt attempt 'blue steel'..

Serious father-daughter....

Serious couple

Family photos can be fun!

Christmas Day

 After our traditional meal of 'Breakfast pizza', cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, we started opening presents.

Only food photo was this one of all the 'fixins' for the hot chocolate. Mini chocolate mint chips were a particular favorite this year.

Several of us were the recipients of 'functional art' from Matt's business - Transmigration Woodworking.

Scott got a utility knife, which comes in handy for his work in Portland.

For George who has a dish of ice cream almost every night - an ice cream scoop

And I got one of his high quality pizza cutters.

Cady got a corkscrew and bottle opener.

Aren't they beautiful?  Who knew that skateboards had such nice wood?

Nice jackets, new crocs, a wonderful book, Messi vs Ronaldo - One Rivalry - Two GOATS

Such thoughtful gifts all around! 

Johnny and Monica got a gift card for Cheesecake Factory and a kind offer from me to watch Isabella while they went out to eat.  She was having none of that though, as she LOVES Cheesecake Factory!  You can see how thrilled she was!

The uncles gave our pink loving princess the perfect coat.

And she also got pink roller skates!

And some skating lessons....

Isabella was thrilled when she opened a gift bag to find a new I-phone.  We reuse our gift bags and George had actually gotten ME a new phone but he failed to notice the "To: Isabella - From Grandma and Grandpa" on the other side side of the bag.  She wasn't too disappointed!!!!

I know that presents are not the most important part of Christmas but they surely are fun!

 

 

Christmas Eve

 Oh the fun of family traditions and the occasional tweeks of those traditions to make them even better. 

Ornament making.....

Just look at that concentration

This year we used pipe cleaners, pony beads, bells and ribbon for our creations.

No glue gun involved.  George was really the brains behind this project. If I am honest, he is the brains behind most projects.  I get the ideas and then he works out how to accomplish what I want.

I think our stars turned out quite well.

I love the creativity and slight differences.

As per our new tradition, we had Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup, delicious rolls and lunch meats and cheeses.

I love using my Christmas Spode!  

Next we played games.  This year instead of coming up with all the games myself, I asked each of the kids to plan a game. Very fun to have some new games mixed in with a couple of the old standbys, like Isabella's favorite 'Christmas Tree Stack'.  When she tried stacking them a couple of weeks ago, she had problems but she has practiced and practiced.  That effort paid off as she was just about as fast as the adults.

A couple of our games involved marshmallows - 'Hungry, Hungry Reindee' and 'Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Toss'.

SO we ended up with a trash can full of uneatable ones. 

Grandpa Lewis would be upset at the waste but Dr. Karen would be happy at avoiding eating marshmallows that had passed through multiple hands!

Scott was our overall game winner this year!

His first win!

I think that Matt has won twice,  one of his friends won once, George won once, Monica won once, and now Scott puts his name in the winners column.

Cady had a great idea that we should get a trophy to pass around.  

I definitely plan to do that next year.

After our chocolate fountain dessert, everyone went home to wait for Santa's arrival.

And big thanks to George for also master minding the chocolate fountain each year!

It's a labor of love.