December is a busy month with lots of picture taking opportunities. Elliot was in his first percussion concert playing three different instruments (not at the same time...). One of the instruments is the Crotales, which is a set of tuned cymbals that you strike with a pair of mallets.
Tess went on her first date to the Waterford Christmas Dance with a young man named Jarom Chung. They doubled with Tess's good friend Meredith and her date from her church. They started with a matinee at the movies and then came to our home to change clothes and have dinner. Alan barbequed for them and Elliot and Madeleine were the servers. Then they headed to Thanksgiving Point for the dance. They had a lot of fun and as you can see from the pictures, Tess looked fabulous.
The last of our old cars is gone -- we said goodbye to Hugo. For those of you who don't know who Hugo is, it is our faithful fifteen-seater van that has been the means of many great family vacations. We were sad to see it go, but as our family decreases, the need just isn't there.
As usual, we started our "official" Christmas celebrations with Christmas at the Browns. Alan's parents Pat and Wally always have us over the Saturday before Christmas and we celebrate with the traditional breakfast and opening presents. I think every family should have two Christmas Days!
Christmas Eve we had Pat, Wally and Aunt Shirley over for dinner and had a nice quiet evening at home with yummy food and good company. Shirley stayed for a sleep over and sure enough, Santa came to our house again this year.
Christmas day was a morning of gift giving and Grandma and Grandpa coming back over to see what everyone got for Christmas. Then we piled into the car and headed down to Alpine to my sister Melanie's house where we met up with a bunch of the Morgan clan for dinner and a program. It was great fun to get to see everyone. We even talked to the Morgans in PA to wish them a Merry Christmas.
New Year's Eve we did the fondue party with some of our friends and neighbors. It's probably a good way to spend the last night of the year -- eating so much that you really do feel ready for the new year's resolutional diet! I'm quite sure that we made more noise as a group this year than we ever have before -- I guess that's my fault, ‘cause I bought the noisemakers!
New Year's Day of course we slept in and then we got ready to go sledding. Cherry had planned a Morgan Family Sledding Party. Everyone had a great time sledding, throwing snowballs, and enjoying doughnuts and hot chocolate. I took lots of pictures -- what else is new?!