Happy Holidays!

As usual, Christmas 2009 came and went in a whirlwind of carols, gifts, delicious home-cooked meals, family game nights, and a whole lot of hours on the road.  We're fortunate that we still get to have my brother and his family (wife Paula and step-daughter Amanda-16) for Christmas each year, so we all meet at Jan & Ron's house in Chicago for the festivities and some much-needed quality family time.  Since they say a picture's worth a thousand words I think I'll post a few photos and let your imaginations fill in the gaps.

There was a family dinner with Tyler and Debbie (Ron's son and his fiance):

There was family caroling on Christmas Eve:

Some of us caroled in our pajamas:

We admired the snow and scoped out the gifts while we waited for Jan & Ron to make their Christmas morning debuts:

There was a lot of coffee:

And then there were the annual family portraits in front of the tree:

We got a little silly:

And then we opened gifts:

There was a blast from the past:

And people plotted how to get their hands on other people's gifts:

There was roast beast:

There was primping:

There was hijacking of cameras:

And on the way home there were snowflakes that actually looked like snowflakes:

And before we know it we'll be doing it all again.  Happy Holidays!