A Moose Head?

Yesterday,as you well know, was the celebration of Christmas in various places. Gramps and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas at Mark and Allie's home. Mark picked us up at our home at around 1:30 and we went directly to their home. Gramps and I had already eaten lunch at home (consisting of a really good hamburger which was homemade) and a cup of coffee for him and a glass of water for me.

I had packed up what we needed to spend the night at their home, so when we got there, we were greeted by Allie with a hug and a kiss and made welcome. They soon had to leave to go to a Christmas Eve service at their church, where 24 people were baptized, Mark being among them.

When they came back home, Allie made some supper for all of us, plus for her daughters, Rachael, and Jessie, plus Jessie's significant other, Travis, and their daughter, Kyah. Kyah, who is almost a year old, is adorable. There was a lot of package wrapping that took place that evening behind closed doors, and in fact was still taking place after Gramps and I retired for the night.

Christmas morning dawned bright and beautiful, and by 7:30, Mark, Allie, and I were up and moving about. Gramps stayed true to his habits and I had to get him up around 9 a.m. By that time, Allie had prepared and cooked two casseroles of breakfast quiche, and was ready to put it on the table. All who had been there the night before was assembled and enjoyed the food.

By 10 a.m. everyone was ready for the opening of gifts, and so we proceeded. Only one gift was presented and opened at a time in order to give everyone the chance to see and admire it. Lots of really neat presents were opened and enjoyed.

Now, it seems that when Mark and Allie moved into their home in the spring of this year, one of the girls remarked that all they needed was a moose head to mount over the mantel in the living room, and the others joked that yes, that would really be fun! So when Allie opened a letter from Sarah, her daughter who lives in San Francisco, with a picture of a moose head, and a message that one was on its way in a couple of weeks, she had such a look of "now what?" on her face, it was hilarious. Of course, the whole thing was a joke perpetrated by her daughters, and no moose head was ever in the offing. Everyone had a good laugh over the joke, especially Allie, whose laugh was one of relief.

When we got ready to begin opening gifts, Allie put a ham to cook into the oven. Around 1:30 p.m. she began wondering why there was no aroma of ham coming from the kitchen. Well, she looked into the oven and realized the oven was cold. She had forgotten to turn it on, so there was another joke on her. Seems like it was a day for jokes. She very good-naturedly heated up some pasta that she had prepared the day before, and we had that plus some deviled eggs that I had brought with me. We also had some bread and butter to go with the pasta. The ham we had for supper along with green beans, corn, rolls, and sparkling cider. Yum, it was all delicious.

I snapped a picture of Mark taking a snooze after lunch (he had been working hard all day) and he didn't want me to post it, so I am not (yet). It makes a good blackmail object though. ha ha.

I had made a small pillow for Kyah, (posted here with her holding it) and she really liked it. She was adorable in her little red Christmas dress. She is almost walking, but not quite.

A lot more took place but I won't go into all that. I did get to speak with both my daughters who were visiting with their children away from home. Darlene, my brother John's widow, also called and I talked with her for awhile.

Well, there is probably a lot more I could say, but I am having trouble staying awake. Don't want to bonk my forehead on the computer table again. Gramps and I went to Jeff City today and got his hair cut, and then went to Wendy's for hot Chili for a late lunch. We had stopped at the cemetery so I could show him his mama's grave, and then neither of us could remember where it was, and I got into a situation where I couldn't turn around, and had to back up the way I had come and didn't have a lot of room to turn around even there. Whew! He has been concerned lately with where his mama is and what happened to her. I was going to set his mind at rest on the matter. On the way out he said, "I know where my mama is, she is in Heaven," and I thought, "Thank goodness! My assurances to him haven't fallen on deaf ears. I just hope he will remember the next time he thinks about her."

Pictures: (1)Chimney with wreath where imaginary moose head would be placed. ha.
(2)Tree with gifts before unwrapping began
(3)Jessie and Travis' daughter, Kyah
(4)Travis holding Kyah, who is holding her new pillow.
(5)Gramps holding our new "welcome" sign for our home
(6)Gramps and me (he holding our new warm fuzzy sign.)
(7)Allie and me
(8)Group picture of Travis, Kyah, Jessie, me, Gramps and Rachael.
(9)Mark and Allie holding "moose picture"

Well, it is about time for me to close the mouth and take a nap. My eyes are really heavy and I can lie on the couch and get a 30 minute nap before supper time. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you. Bye for now. More later.