Merry Christmas 2016

So much for my optimism from my last post, to be more faithful in my blogging!

It was a much different kind of Christmas this year, but we rolled with the punches.
Matt, Sally and Ellie were victims of a stomach bug, one right after another. It was a fast and furious foe. It meant that Matt, Sally and Ellie missed our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities. Add to the mix was the fact that Julie (6 months pregnant) had a severe case of vertigo (the worst of it was in the middle of the night Sun into Mon) and didn't feel quite right all week. We did not want to expose Julie to any stomach bugs. It ended up that Wayne and Julie did not make it to Christmas Eve at Jenny and Jay's and only Wayne came to Bucky's on Christmas.
Disappointing for all that we couldn't be together, but it made us realize (even more than we already do) how very blessed we are with good health overall.
We all made the best of it and it opened the door to other choices for how we could celebrate Christmas.
Instead of going to our usual Christmas Eve mass at St. Cletus, Jack and I worshiped with Bucky and Downtown Sue at St. John Fisher. We went to the 4pm mass and the children presented the gospel. It was sweet and cute and holy, all in one.

mass at Fisher

We spent the rest of Christmas Eve at Jenny and Jay's. We were thrilled that Karen joined us this year after a two years off. It was a lighter crowd but a very fun crowd.

Kjell, Lisa, Jake and Charley

Jaime and Jenny

Christmas morning at Bucky's was fun, as always. We toasted to all who were not there with us, whether dead or just sick. We have that kind of sense of humor! One of the highlights was sitting around the dining room table and talking about lots of interesting topics. There was a little bit of family history, a little politics (well, a lot of politics, but everyone was interested), a little bit of catching up on everyone's lives.

opening presents

Downtown Sue

Jack and I ended up spending the rest of the day at Bucky's. Jack ran out to the 7-11 (only place open on Christmas) and got 2 frozen pizzas and cooked them for dinner.
All in all, a different but fun and meaningful Christmas. We are going to reschedule our Christmas Eve with our kids later this week when Julie and Wayne get back from Ohio.