ENJOYING OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Another Pat and John. Pat is Sandra's sister and we have been friends since we were about 4 or 5 years old. They made it down to spend the evening with us on the last day of our stay at the group lodge. It was nice catching up on kids and grand kids.

Bill and Mary Sue came up for a visit on New Year's eve. We have been neighbors and friends for about 40 years. I can't believe how the time has flown. They have just celebrated their 50 anniversary recently and are still smiling. Don't you just love it?

This picture was taken on New Year's Day. We had the traditional southern meal. Turnip greens, black eyed peas and hog jowl along with a lot of other yummy food such as fried okra, mac & cheese, corn, and a hunk of cornbread. I think I ate enough to make me healthy, wealthy and wise for the rest of my life. If I didn't, I sure tried.

Enjoying conversation with friends. (My John, Sandra and friend John).

This was our New Year's Eve feast. Every year for the last 40 years we have had seafood and this year was no different. We had boiled shrimp, grilled jumbo shrimp, grilled scallops, fried oysters, fresh water stripe, hush puppies, home cut fries and just to make it healthy, we had a salad. The kids lined up before we finished cooking and the adults were not far behind.

We stayed 4 days at the lodge. We played more board games than I can count. The two that we enjoyed most was Mexican Train domino's and Smart Ass. They were both games that the young ones and adults could play together.

This group is working on a puzzle. It was a Noah's ark picture and turned out really pretty. It was small pieces and lots of color and design. I found a piece at the beginning and when they were almost through putting it together.

Emily and Paige ( Marks fiance') and myself decided to make cookies to take to the lodge. We made around 16 dozen cookies, peanut butter, chocolate chip, sugar cookies and some ooey gooey bars. The box of cookies had been devoured by the second day. I know most of the kids were on a real sugar high the first two days.

This picture shows what a mess be made in the kitchen on our cookie adventure. I think me and Paige enjoyed it more then Emily.

I also took a trip down memory lane while I was off work. This is a picture of the house my Dad built when I was about 10 years old. We had move into an old farm house and it burnt to the ground. We built in the same spot and lived there until I was 13. That is when we move down to the lake. When he built this house, I thought it was huge, but it wasn't. It made me a little sad to see it in shambles and about ready to be torn down to make room for a subdivision. Lots of happy memories there.

Another view of the house inside.

Six of us on the couch. We said hopefully, next year we will fit it better.

We did get a beautiful snow on Christmas morning. Just enough to turn everything white, but not enough to cover the roads and side walks. For some reason my pictures seem to be going backwards but I am not going to take the time to make them chronologically correct.

This was Christmas. Sarah and Cody and the kids had to leave on Sunday morning heading for Washington St. They didn't make to the New Year's weekend. It gets harder and harder to get everyone in the same place at the same time.

I hope everyone had as happy a holiday season as we did. Although I think we need to create a few more words to describe our feeling. Like maybe sadcited (sad that part of you family is leaving and excited that others will be coming in soon). One thing is for sure I think a lot of happy memories were made this year and hopefully there will be more in store during the coming year.