Celebrating The Season--Jarvis Style!

Last night was the annual Jarvis Family Christmas, and of course, it was full of (my favorite phrase) controlled chaos. Minus the Guess family--(we really missed you Kim, Tom, Addison, and Reagan!!!!), all Jarvis' were accounted for, including 3 newest members: Bekah, her son Preston, and of course, Cary.

We met at Grandpa and Barbara's lake house around 3:00, snacked on some appetizers (tamales, cookies, cranberry dipand cheese fondue) and sipped on hot apple cider (with Red Hots!) or coffee, and enjoyed everyone's company. It's been about a year since I have seen a lot of these people!

Dinner consisted of ham, broccoli-rice casserole, green bean casserole, and of course rolls. Dessert? Austin and Erica made cookies (they were great!), Deb made a cake, and Cary and I made our special cake: a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa, complete with note and sneaky mouse...the most challenging part was getting the cake to the lake house without it tumping over!

So after dinner, Santa visited the young kids (though he was nowhere in sight!) and brought gifts. I remember that for so many years that Kim, Erica, and I were in the middle of the mess, always opening so many gifts. I love watching the next generation this time of year, and how their eyes light opening gifts.

There was a game of Apples to Apples (with 11 people--quite a game!). I am proud to say, I was the ONLY one in the game that did not have a single green card...go me! It was a good time, and a great way to bond with our families that we don't see often enough.

My favorite part of the evening? Spencer came to me before dinner and told me that he needed help. Being the always helpful Jennifer that I am, we wandered to the garage, where we applied a golf ball decal that looks like it crashed into the back of Grandpa's SUV...at then end when we showed him, he got a good laugh. Looks like Spencer will carry on the mischeviousness of our families.

As always, it was so good to the Jarvis family. I hope that Cary enjoyed himself with his new family as well. He fits right in!