Christmas day events

Since this was to be the first Christmas that Judy and I would be alone, Kirstin had pity on us and invited us over to her house again for Christmas morning, so that we could watch the excitement the boys would have opening their presents from Santa. Logan is very excited in this next picture. Liam is passing out the gifts; oh they are their own.

Oh, great. I got the Galactic Heroes. I am greatly excited and pleased with this gift and my expression does not begin to show it. Hey, my brother got one to and he is just as happy.

Hey, Liam, look at this collection of books I have! I like books.

I can read them also. Well, actually, Grandpa read them to me.

Yeah, but look at this. It is a coloring book. I can make these pages beautiful.

These new wooden chairs from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen are nifty. We each have our own. They both look the same so we won't really know which one is ours and we will not have to fight over them.

Then after opening our presents and getting all sweaty, it was time to clean up in the bathtub. We like baths and usually have a lot of fun splashing in the water, despite the looks on our faces.

See, I am sitting in Logan's chair and I left mine for him. And he is not beating me up over it.

Logan is playing with the new collection of Galactic Heroes. They are really cool.

I also like my puzzles.

This is just one of my most unusual, out of the blue, faces. Nobody ever gets the picture they really want. I try to throw them off a bit. It is working.

Liam is laughing at the funny face that Logan just made.

You aren't the only one who likes puzzles. I have my own.

Thanks Kirstin and Jeff for letting us chair Christmas with you. (I have already been to Menards).

Christmas Eve at Smenteks

Judy, myself and the Barnharts, along with Jeff's mom , dad and Jed all showed up at Kirstin and Jeff's house to spend Christmas Eve with some family. We had a good time talking and eating. We had a little orphan girl (Gretchen) show up, as evident below. Logan was there at his Star Wars table

And then his brother Liam. He had kind of a puzzled look on his face. Maybe he wants the chair his brother is is sitting in.

Gretchen and Lorelei really enjoyed their cousin's musical chair.

Joseph was busy playing with the Logan bucket 0' toys.

And just so there isn't any fighting over the new PJ's, their names are neatly engraved on their behinds. This one belongs to Liam.

And this one belongs to Logan.

It is always fun to be at the Smenteks for Christmas Eve. We will be there next year also.

Big Day in Big Lake for Andrew

Early in December, Andrew took part in the 7th grade band concert at the Big Lake High School. Andrew is 1st chair in the trumpet section, which says that he has practiced enough to be in that spot. Every time I hear a trumpet on the radio, I think of Andrew in the band. Maybe he is the next Louis Satchmo Armstrong or Al Hurt. He was doing a very good job of holding his trumpet up above the music stand so we could hear really well. The concert was really a good concert with eleven Christmas/winter songs. Way to go Andrew. During the last song, all the Santa hats came out and Andrew never took it off. Here he is with brother Brandon.