Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The entire family came to us this year - to visit and see the new house. It's really nice to have a home that can sleep this size group - my aunt, uncle and cousin and grandparents from Texas, my parents and sister from Tennessee and of course Dennis, the boys, and I. Yes, we all fit and most everyone seemed reasonably comfortable. My sister made out well, having the whole poolhouse to herself, complete with her own bathroom. We were able to have the tallest tree we've ever had here at home - a live 10' tree that came from Pennsylvania. It was gorgeous and we really enjoyed it. Christmas Eve had us attending two services at church. In the early afternoon we attended a children's oriented service where Nick played one of the three wise men. He had a short speaking part. That evening we attended a second service where Dennis sang in the praise band. It was a blessed service. Santa was good to us, the boys were surprised by an unexpected gift of a Wii. We had great food (lots of cooking). We spent and evening at the Va. Beach oceanfront seeing the Christmas lights at the boardwalk, the kids were able to ride in the back of Dennis' truck to see the lights. One evening we started up the fire pit and the kids and Dennis made Smores. My aunt, uncle and cousins came down from Williamsburg for a day as well. I was able to play my first round of golf with my uncle, cousin Bryan, and my dad. That was fun, they were good natured with me and I acutally beat all of them on a Par 3 with no cheating!