Merry, Merry Christmas!

I just realized I didn't take one picture of Christmas this year. Duh. I borrowed this cute one of Max from Maria. Fortunately, Kelli got some good ones and posted them on her blog.

Our Christmas celebration this year turned out a little differently than we anticipated. About 2 weeks before Christmas Chuck's dad was admitted to the hospital for what the doctors were calling a blockage. He was in a lot of pain, they were running a bunch of tests and the family was naturally very concerned. The day Nate & Maria arrived in Phoenix we got a call from Christi saying that they were packing and would be leaving the next day for Arizona. Things were looking pretty serious for Chuck Sr and Chuck felt like he needed to be with his family. So, sad as we were about the circumstances, we were delighted that they would be joining us. They slept at Angie's (Chuck's sister) house but Christi and the kids usually spent the day with us while Chuck stayed with his dad in the hospital. It was a wonderful blessing that Chuck Sr was released from the hospital on the 24th and was able to spend Christmas with the family. We're grateful the kids were given that special time with their dearly beloved PawPaw.
Meanwhile, back at the Peck's house, the main entertainment for most of the week turned out to be the putting together of 4 mixed up jigsaw puzzles.. courtesy of Miss Sophie. Sophie had spent a happy time mixing them all up one afternoon. Christi had just scooped them back into the boxes and had given them to Bill as a challenge. Since everybody (but me) loved jigsaw puzzles Bill decided this was the time! They started off with one puzzle but soon realized they needed to get them all going at once to sort them out. So.. for several days we had puzzle pieces spread out on 2 tables and happy puzzlers buzzing around finding & putting pieces together. Amazingly enough, when they finally managed to get them together, there was not one piece missing!
Bill and I were sad to miss out on some of the fun as we trundled off to the mission office on Monday & Tuesday. But, somehow, they seemed to muddle along just fine without us! Who knew? LOL The cousins did really well together and there was always the park around the corner when things needed some changing up.

Christmas Eve Kelli and Christopher came over right after work and spent the night. We had the traditional turkey dinner (an hour later than planned since I had a senior moment & misread the time on the turkey bag), sang some Christmas carols and Grandpa told the Christmas story. By this time we had a whole bunch of tired children so Chuck took his tribe back to Angies to tuck into bed while Christi remained here to finalize Christmas stuff. Then we all went to bed for our long winter's nap.. or maybe we should say, short winter's nap? LOL By 8 AM they were back from Angie's, knocking on our door. Fortunately, Bill & I were up, as were Max & Maria. We kept the excited kids in the front room while Bill woke up Kelli & Christopher & Nate finished dressing. Soon we were all traipsing into the family room to see what Santa had brought. Wow! He didn't disappoint. The stockings were filled with lots of wonderful goodies, Sophie got a princess tent, Lily a doll buggy, Charlie got TWO awesome Nerf guns (I think one might really have been for Chuck..), and Max got a train set. Once the stockings had been thoroughly explored, Christi & Bill put together an Apple Pancake & egg breakfast. Then came the opening of the gifts. We all got royally spoiled. It was a lovely morning. Chuck, Christi and the kids went to the Gray's for the afternoon while the rest of us spent the time playing with our new toys, watching dvds etc. We had a Bolognase pasta dinner and then put together our graham cracker houses. (long story there.. the good news is that we actually DID get around to them! LOL) At this point, we declared it a "Girl's Night" and Christi, Kelli, Maria and I took off for a movie, leaving the guys with the kids (and their new wii games) We went to see 'The Princess and the Frog'.. not memorable. But, we sure did have a good time being together. On the way back, the rest of them decided it would really be fun to make it a 'double feature' so Bill & I stayed home with the kids while Nate, Maria, Chuck & Christi went to see 'Sherlock Holmes'. (Kelli & Christopher left for home) About 5 minutes after everyone left Lily woke up and entertained Grandma & Grandpa till her mom and dad came back. She was really quite a happy camper till about 10 minutes before they got here when she had a complete meltdown. Don't know who was happier to see her mom.. Lily or us! LOL
Anyway, it was a lovely Christmas season filled with lots of fun together times and wonderful memories. Truly a merry Christmas for all!