MAYBE TODAY WILL BE A CAPS LOCK DAY...

SORRY, THAT JUST POPPED IN MY HEAD WHEN I REALIZED MY CAPS LOCK WAS ON SIGNING IN. THEN IT SEEMED LIKE THE THING TO DO, BUT REALLY, I'M HAVING A HARD TIME NOT THINKING I AM TALKING TO SOMEONE WHO IS HARD OF HEARING. SO I WILL STOP NOW.

Phew, ok, sorry about that, my twisted little sense of humor (or lack of!). Let's move on to the post, shall we?

We've had a couple of Christmas parties, one on Saturday, one on Sunday. Saturday we went to Stephanie's, Bill's cousin on his mom's side. It was supposed to be at her mother's house, but very last minute we all got called and told to go there, we'd have more room. Poor Steph! Turns out being a clean freak (her description) pays off though, she was all set to entertain 10 kids and 20 adults!

Some of Bill's family who were there we get to see a couple of times a year, but a few we are lucky if we see them once at Christmas! With lots of catching p to do, it is great to sit around and chat! A couple of times I causght myself making jokes, which is rare for me, especially around them. One thing I learned early when Bill and I met is that our families have VERY different sense of humors. I hope I didn't embarrass myself, but I had fun either way! No, there weren't twin boys, I spliced it 'cuz Jill wasn't in the first shot!

Bill's cousin Ben (on the right) is an amateur photographer, but I use the word amateur loosely, he is definitely talented! He let me drool over his new camera, it's a lot like Melissa's, though if I remember it was a Nikon, and he got a wicked good deal on it, in excellent condition. That was fun, but it reminds me how little I really know about taking pictures. I wish I had more time (patience) to play around with it, even just reading the owner's manual on my new camera would be nice. But anyway...

Some candids of the relations:

We had a "Yankee Swap", it was a lot of fun, but I didn't end up with the gift I opened (and REALLY loved!). Such is life when you draw #5 and there are 20 people!

Cousins are great, aren't they?

The bird feeder was one hit of the night, Lillian is there with my beautiful snowman wind chime she took home (Lucky #1!!), and don't let Joy's quiet demeanor fool you, she was eyeing the gifts to make her swap!

By the time the festivities were wrapping up Zachary had officially warmed up to Hannah! They were having fun!

It's taken me all day to get this posted, will have to post Sunday's party later, Merry Christmas all!