Christmas in Northern Michigan

It is our tradition to have Christmas Eve dinner at Bud's sister's house across the street.  

 Aren't these two a good looking brother and sister.  50 years ago no one would have believed that Bud could be this nice to his sister.

 Sue and Walt have 4 wonderful children and we are thankful to be a part of their lives.

 Brittany was home from her internship in Chicago.  We hadn't seen her since summer.  She looks terrific.

 Charlotte is home from Lawrence University where she is studying music.  Another beautiful young lady.

 Brittany even brought her  wonderful husband, John.  They a such a great couple.  John is working VERY hard at a law firm in Chicago.

 Jack is finishing his final year at U. of Michigan where he is studying engineering.  I asked the question (without even being prompted by his parents)  "So, how is the job search going??"  He is working on it.

 Sonja came over for the evening too.  She is looking pretty good too.

 I had to get in the picture with David or he wouldn't let me take a picture.  I tried to take a picture of him by himself earlier but he wouldn't cooperate.

 Mom and son.  What else could you say but smile at this picture.

 It was a bit like 'herding cats' but we did manage to get all of them in one place for a picture.

 As per tradition, Walt read the Christmas story before the family left for church.

 Christmas morning we were right back over there.  This is David teaching Jack how to tie a bow tie.  Jack received the bow tie from David for Christmas.

 Another family tradition is that Uncle Bud fixes French toast for the family Christmas morning.  This past week he experimented with 2 different recipes to see if he could perfect his traditional recipe.  Neither one of the experiments was that good so he went aback to his usual style.  It was a great.

 The plate was piled high with the French toast.

 David offered to pose with me again.  What a great guy.

THEN, they let us come back over AGAIN in the evening for dinner.  We tried to go to the movies to see Unbroken but it was sold out in the afternoon.  We just decided to come back to the house and relax together instead of trying for the later show.

Finally, we went out again today (the 26th) to see Unbroken and dinner after at Applebees.  AS you can see we had great time with the family.  We hope they aren't too tired of us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS