Christmas Eve 2008

We have our big family gathering on Christmas Eve each year. When I was a kid, everyone would gather at my Great-Grandma's house after church. Since Grandma has passed, we've been rotating between four different houses each year. I volunteered to host this year so we'd be able to put Jack to bed at a decent time if he got cranky... which he did. He was horrible at 7:30, so I put him to bed, and then he was up at 8:30 and would NOT go back to sleep for anything. Apparently he wanted to spend time with the family too! I brough him downstairs to visit with everyone and he ended up staying awake until 10:30 before going down for the night.

Here are some photos from the evening....

It is so hard to get a picture of Henry without a cheeseball grin on his face lately. Here's a nice half-smile (hee hee):

Here we have (L-R) my mom's cousin Debbie (Jack's godmother), Jack, my grandma, and my mom:

Notice how all of the Kromm men have the same look on their face. It takes *years* to master that look of disinterest and mild annoyance. HA!! If my Uncle Sonny were here, he'd have the same look on his face (unfortunately he spent Christmas in the hospital this year due to some heart problems... please say a little prayer for him if you're the praying kind). On the left is my mom's cousin Bob, in the middle are his son (Matt) and step-daughter (Erin), and on the right is my Uncle Floyd (grandma's brother). I took this picture from the staircase, in case you're wondering why they're all looking up.

Remember that picture of Debbie up there? Well, here's her husband Tod (Jack's godfather) with Darrin, hanging out in the kitchen talking politics. :o)

Henry was so excited to open gifts! He kept running around saying, "Presents? Presents?" hee hee. He got a farmer Elmo set from Uncle Floyd and Aunt Rose (I just realized I didn't get a picture of her... dang it. I hate it when that happens), and a big "working" farm set farm set from Debbie and Tod. He loves him some barns and animals, so both gifts were perfect!

Here's a close up of me (why do I let these things happen?):

And Matt with his new football cards:

Henry opening the large farm set:

Debbie and Jack... note the look on Jack's face. lol! Think he was sleepy?


Farmer Henry:

After everyone left, Darrin and I got to play Santa. We hauled all of the gifts down stairs and finished wrapping, tagging, and bow-ing all of them, then stuck them under the tree so they were all ready for Henry, Jack, Grandma, and Grandma to open Christmas morning! There were A LOT of presents. Here is a picture... they're under the tree, behind the tree, spilling out around the tree. Presents, presents, PRESENTS!!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas! I'll be back with more pictures from Christmas day (gift opening at home and at grandma's) later this week!