The day was packed with fun fellowship, catching up with each family and what is going on in there lives, wonderful bountiful food supply!! The Zook family is known for appreciating and raving about good food and yesterday was not a disappointment for sure! From the full tub of traditional salad (Just the way Dave likes it) to the full course lunch menu with a few different meats along with mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, veggies and the dessert! Umm lets not even go into that department because it would have your mouth watering!! It was all so delicious and the extra calories consumed were worth every bite!...:)
The Zook's LOVE games!! Many different games go on throughout the day! The children play games and the adults play games, this year we all played the human dutch blitz game and it was so hair raising we had hoarse voices after the games were over!! It is a workout to run the cards to the proper pile and we earned our supper that way!...:)
Papa's have a great place to host this crowd! We were in the basement some and the big finished upstairs barn was a great place to do the gifts and send the rowdy children (and adults)
This picture just sort of happened... when I saw all my guys sitting together on the couch I ran for the camera!...
You never know what you will find in mom's old toy box and we all cracked up when Bryant came around looking like this!...:)
He is such a honey and we all just love him tons!!... He got a head lamp for Christmas and I couldn't help but capture his cuteness!...
Jenika got a box full of crafts! Drawing is her highlight right now and this will be great to take to Belize with us!... Thanks Aunt Leah!!
Jordan was thrilled with his hunting vest!!... Thanks Uncle Jonathan!!
Opening gifts can take pretty long if we do it one child at a time so this year to save time and get back to the games we went by families... One family at a time gave out there gifts. It went faster and it was still easy to watch them all...:) It's not about the gifts with this clan at all. We were together all day and finally evenings the gifts were exchanged. I have come to appreciate this over the years, it is kept real simple yet the children all get a little something to enjoy. In the end the true meaning of Christmas is the winner over the gifts and the many other holiday festivities that are so easy to get wrapped up in.
Here is the human blitz game going on.... This was the calm part for sure!!
The mama's with little ones get frustrated when the daddies can play games all day and when the women try to play a game they just keep getting interrupted by the little ones that need assistance or are often tired and whining at mamas feet while she is playing a game! By evenings they were pushing them to the daddies who were also playing games and were sending them right back to the mama's in basement! It was so funny to me because I wasn't part of it...:)
The evening spread came out late... Soup and sandwiches along with lots of sides and tons and tons of yummy desserts! There was no way you could taste everything because the options were many but it was fun for sure!...;)
Martha's cheesecakes!!...
Look at Shikira!! She is just the cutest!! I see a bit of Jenika in her when she was her age and I think this is part of why I just want to squish her! She is also super good and hardly makes a peep ever!... She is growing and oh so adorable!! (She is Matthew and Roxy's)
Thanks Papa and Mom for being brave again to host us all!
This year was extra special to because we are planning to take turns after this year to host the Zook's for Christmas. Mom can get a bit overwhelmed and the stage they are in hosting this crowd can be a bit much.
Dave and Rose will be with us again by next year!! We MISSED you guys!! Justin and Jordan can not wait until the Stoltzfus cousins return from Africa!! Lord willing it will be this summer!! Justin and Joey will make a great prefab team!...:) Hurry back Joey!!
This week looks crazy but we will breath through it and enjoy the season along with the packing of bags and cleaning of the house. So many small things need to be done before we leave but we will be so thankful for the few days we have after Christmas. We are leaving many of that last minute stuff for then so we can think Christmas!! It truly is the best time of the year and the church message today took us back to the real raw days and how things were not all glitz and glamor and full of parties and festive. We truly want to realize how things must have been for Joseph and Mary back when baby Jesus came into this world! Christmas has meaning when we remember the "True Meaning"!!
Have a BLESSED week full of seasonal blessings!! Remember to be a blessing!!
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