The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was our first Christmas celebration - dinner and a gift exchange with Ryan's mom and Allen and all Ryan's siblings. We had a great night together, feasting on breakfast food and watching kids run around and have fun ripping into their gifts! Last year we had a couple of people missing because of illness, so it was good to have everyone back together this year!

* Monday was a rainy, gloomy day, but I had a surprise that brightened it all up! My RA from my freshman year of college, Karen, was in town to visit her family for Christmas, so she stopped by to see me! She ended up staying to have dinner with us and we talked for about four hours - it just flew by! She brought me a gorgeous flower that so brightened my day. :)

* Tuesday was Nita's birthday, so we all went out to eat at Cracker Barrel to celebrate her. {"We all" means fifteen of us converged upon that dining room at one very long table! She had a wonderful time and the cheesecake we had for her treat was out of this world!!

* Wednesday morning, I had Christmas with one of my blognonymous friends, and Ryan had his carry-in Christmas celebration at work. He got his friend Matt this shirt - which reportedly, Matt loved so much, he may never take it off. LOL. {Sorry, Amanda!!} While all that fun was happening, I was home having a meltdown over my dead computer, but that night, Ryan became the hero of the world when he somehow brought it back to life!!

* Thursday was Christmas Eve, and it was a busy day for us. Ryan had to work, and I did a volunteer project at the church before working on our food contributions for Christmas day. That night, we had Christmas with Ryan's dad's side of the family. We don't get to see them very often, so it was a good and fun evening of storytelling and delicious food {Ryan's grandma cooks the whole shebang and does a great job!} and gift exchanged. Before we came home, we went to a Christmas Eve service at the church where the rest of Ryan's family attends.

* Friday was, of course, Christmas, and we celebrated three times! We had our own Christmas at home together with Braeya JoJo, and then we drove to my parents' house for Christmas with my family. After lunch and gift exchanges and photo booth fun, we packed up and went to Allen's parents' house for our Christmas with that side of the family. Whew! Busy day!

 * Yesterday I had all kinds of grand plans, but I knew we were supposed to get rain, so I wanted to take down our porch decorations. Before I knew what was happening, I took down ALL the decorations. I hadn't planned to do that at all, but it's done now!! It actually feels kind of good to have things back in some semblance of order. Lat night, Ryan and I had a date night at home - our first pizza in a month. It was heavenly!