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Sunday, December 15

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While we waited for a few people to arrive, I realized that these five great grandchildren were in the same area of the garage, so quickly assembled a group picture.

Our 2024 great grandchildren – left to right: Aleah (Feb 14) held by her dad Zach; Lainey (Mar 15) held by her mom Lauree; Sierra (Jun 6) held by her mom Diana; Garth (Nov 23) held by his mom Abby; and Henley (Oct 18) held by her aunt Becca.

Our brunch/lunch was scheduled for 12:30 pm, and we were able to begin right on time. Our daughters Diane and Deb were in charge of organizing this meal. Each household brought something delicious. Everyone seems to enjoy breakfast food at this time of year when there are so many meals.

Diane and Deb explained the process of picking up and assembling food that belonged together: breakfast tacos, dried beef gravy on biscuits, French toast and syrup, yogurt parfaits, or have anything alone or together in a way you like. Of course, bacon goes with anything. I think Deb said there was 10 pounds of bacon, and it was gone by the end of the meal.

Nicole with her yogurt parfait.

Ian’s plateful of food.

Dessert was warm cinnamon rolls.

Photo from the front of the garage when most of the 50 people were settled around the tables. There were four of us at a back table that I didn’t photograph.

From the back of the garage – facing the garage door.

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Immediately following lunch, and after the tables were put away, we projected photos on the garage wall. As we were setting up, I heard a few grandchildren say, “This is my favorite part.”

Each year we begin this part with a video of a Christmas song to remind us that Jesus is the reason for the season. This year we played Little Drummer Boy from YouTube by King and Country. It was the one of them going over fields until they reached the stable in Bethlehem. I assemble the rest of the PowerPoint off and on during the year, using childhood photos and some more recent ones. I had about 300 photos that were set to move forward every 6 to 8 seconds. I stopped them every now and then when someone had a question.

Next was the Now-You-Have-It-Now-You-Don’t game we have created by using a 7″ foam dice that has something written on each side.

First, we gave each mother of a baby a packet of baby food, then the preschoolers chose whatever they wanted (with help of parents) from the pile of things on the floor. Next, we moved on to the game.

We began this many years ago with two dice, but now that there are so many people, we use one and go around the circle only one time. First, everyone chooses a gift from the floor in the middle of the circle. We chose a person to start with a roll of the dice and continue around the circle until the dice is back to the first person.

The little ones like playing with the gifts. while we played the game.

If your roll said, “Choose a gift and keep it,” You can choose something from the floor, someone’s lap, or keep the one on your lap. After keeping a gift, it is put under your chair. On the next roll of the dice, it might say pass 2 gifts to the left or pass 1 gift to the right. After we have completed the circle, those who had rolls that said “pass” instead of “keep” can choose a gift from what is left on the floor.

At this point in the mid-afternoon about half of the people leave for home, and life in our garage gets a bit quieter. This is when we have time to visit with those who can stay.

Our daughter Deb took this cute picture of Cerwin and Sierra.

I took advantage of taking this photo after Deb set it up. The reason they are all looking at her (except Renee). This is our granddaughter Lydia with most of her nieces and nephews. There are two in Maine who were not able to be here.

Next there was a Myers sibling photo (Lydia, Heze, Josiah, Abby) with Stetson and Garth included. They are missing Elizabeth who was not able to be here from Maine. This is when we miss their two siblings who are in Heaven. Elijah was just over five months old when he died from a heart deformity in 1994. He would be 31. Hannah died in 2023 from a blood clot and would be 34.

Diane (mom) was included in this picture. It looks like everyone has outgrown her. 🙂

This one included Grandma Myers (Mark’s mom). We were delighted to have her join us. Mark and Diane asked if it would be okay to invite her. She lives an hour and a half away and it was easier to bring her here than for everyone to go to her house. She enjoyed seeing her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Because of distance, she stayed overnight. Mark and Diane took her home the next day.

It was about 5:30 when several members of our youth group and a set of advisors came to bless us with Christmas carols. Becca especially enjoyed this. She had never gone Christmas caroling. We knew each caroler but asked them to say their name and their parents names. This was for the benefit of Mark, Diane, and Abby who did not know the young people but recognized most of their parent’s names.

The Myers supper. They had each been here off and on for the past few days, but this was the first meal when everyone was present at the same time.

Then to the delight of Becca and Andre it began snowing. They live in an area of California where it rarely snows.

Gathering snow from birdhouses and branches. This is Renee and I think Anthony.

Andre was determined to make a snowman and did so by gathering snow wherever he could. There wasn’t a lot of snow – just over a dusting.

Oh, wow! What a precious day for an 80-year-old mother, grandmother and great grandmother.