CHRISTMAS!!!

We had a wonderful three days jam packed with family and fun and laughter....


Christmas Eve was at daughter Erin and husband Mark's lovely home, all decorated up for the season.

 They have two woodburning fireplaces, one in the livingroom and one in the diningroom.  

But the house was so warm with all the baking and people, no fires were needed, that is for sure! 

Our daughter Heather and husband Jesse brought son Jameson too for an overnight.  

Mark's mom Rose came, along with granddaughter Kylee for the evening (on the right below)

So we ended up with a lot of kids to cuddle and play with.  Grandparent Heaven! 

Erin cooked up a ham and all the fixens, Heather brought all the veggies and dips, we brought 8 pounds of crab legs and desserts!   What a feast!   Steveio steamed the crab legs outdoors in the propane burner so the smell was kept out there.  Some presents were shared with family, and the kiddos were sent off to beddybye with visions of sugarplums in their tiny heads.  Steve enjoyed late night cards with the kids, and they managed to finish off a whole bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label!   (not me, I sipped some wine and read stories to the kids)

Playing cards way into the night has been a Christmas Eve tradition since our kids were teens.

It is something they look forward to every year.  Jameson even helped to play for a while.....

But then it was time for him to head up to bed.... waiting for Santa Claus is really hard when you are 2.

This Granmuddah drove a tipsy Granfaddah home 5 miles to our house and into bed.  The kids called us at 7am and said that it was time for Santa presents. Needless to say, Steveio missed out on joining us, as his head was not in shape.   Nuff said.

The kids had a blast.... and Santa brought them many things to explore, delight and wonder about.

 Chelsea totally enjoyed her bongo drum and shared it with her cousin too...

 Jameson's favorite toy seemed to be a set of juggling balls 

He is fascinated with learning and mastering at the age of two!

Once all the presents were opened, Erin made up a nice big breakfast.  It was so nice to have our kids carry on the holiday hosting at their homes.  We will just come and visit .. heh heh

Now it was time to load up for the next party, pick up that hungover Granfaddah and trek on down 100 miles to Waupaca to Steve's brother Mark and wife Shirley's new home.  They gave us the grand tour of their new digs, high up on a hill overlooking the area.  Our son Dan and Heather, along with little Allegra joined us, as did brother Pete, the folks, niece Faith, and later niece Heather and her husband Dave.  What a nice gathering!  Little Allegra was the darling of the party, and was chasing around the labradoodle, Charlie, for all it's worth.   Round and round and round.

Allegra is getting really good at gift opening... and playing with the boxes! 

Gift giving and treats all around.... 

We got to be part of a new special announcement for the Pfundtner Clan....  

ANOTHER GRANDBABY IS ON  THE WAY!!!

Yes, our son Dan and his darling wife, Heather are bringing a new baby into the world next August.  Little Allegra will have a new brother or sister by fall... and one more wee baby to add to next year's Christmas Celebration!   That was our most super duper gift of the whole holiday weekend!!!!!


We trekked on home again after dark (gosh I HATE driving at night)  and snuggled into bed, with happy smiles and thankfulness in our hearts about the love of family.  We sure have had our fill of sickness, surgeries and mishaps this year.  But also we have had new babies, love and laughter too.  So much to be thankful for.


And that, dear blog readers, was our Christmas.......   no motorhomes, no fibers.... just family!

Twas the Night BEFORE the Night Before Christmas!~

And all through the house are the scents of BAKING!!!!

Ahhh the house is smelling great!  I have two pumpkin pies baking, and an apple/cherry crisp, and then a newly invented pumpkin crisp because I had leftover pumpkin pie filling.  So I made up a recipe to use it up. LOL   The tree lights are on and Steveio is laughing at the tv.  The Grinch Whole Stole Christmas is on.  First the classic old cartoon, and now the Jim Carey one.  It adds to the ambiance, I guess?


So much illness has been in our family this year, but everyone seems to be on the mend, and things are looking up for the Pfundtner Clan.  (more on that the day AFTER Christmas)


I snapped a few pics in our yard this morning after the most recent snow.. this one is really interesting.. Check out the snow along the edge of the deck railing!   The big grey squirrels hop hop hopped along the railing at perfect intervals, and the snow softly formed into perfect waves!

I guess Mother Nature does some pretty fancy decorating for the holidays, too! 

I hadn't filled this bird feeder with any seeds, so they didn't even bother to go check it for food.  

The snow on that part of the railing is still smooth and straight. 

I snapped these pics around the yard during the first morning light.  

The snow was piled up so high and light and fluffy on everything.

It was so calm with no winds, so it stayed mounded up on even the tiniest of tree branches. 

Remember those pretty birch trees where I took pictures of the grandkids in the fall?   Brrrrrr

I was ready to run to Green Bay and happened to have the camera along, 

so I snapped a pic of the house before I drove away... all covered in snow and looking so festive! 

The plows had just gone through, and Steve had already snowblown the driveway that morning at 4:30am.  There were a couple of additional inches that fell since he left, you can see the car tracks in the driveway. 

The poor motorhome is looking pretty sad and forlorn.  It needs to get out and exercise a day sometime soon, but perhaps when we have dry pavement roads so we don't get salt all over the undercarriage.  We take it out and run the generator too and go for a nice ride.  Then sometimes we grab some take-out food and eat it while sitting in the parking lot by the bay.... watching the ice fishermen come and go. 

As I was heading down to Green Bay, I still had the camera laying on the seat.  So I grabbed a pic of this familiar site for Wisconsin... following a plow truck as it spreads back the banks, and sprinkles road salt all over from that tube on the left ... it goes PING PING PING on the car if you follow too closely.  LOL 

I got all of my errands run while in Green Bay.  Heather watched Chelsea for me so I could get them all done without hauling an 11 month old in and out and in and out of stores and post office and such places.

She got to play with her big cousin Jameson, so she was happy as a lark.  We both came home and took a nice nap. 

Ahhh the pies are done now, time to get them out.  

The presents are wrapped. The food is ready.  

The family is healthy and we are going to have a great Christmas Holiday in Wisconsin.  

MERRY 

CHRISTMAS 

TO EVERYONE

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO! 

Update on Lowell for Wednesday

 Here is the latest on my dad, Lowell.


Three cardiologists when over all the tests... there is some blockage in the heart, but they are not going to operate yet at this time..  I guess from what mom said he still has some *flow* so they are sending him home on drugs (3 different kinds plus nitro for his pocket)  and check him again in 4 weeks...  

He will have a major overhaul on his diet and hope to keep his ticker ticking by careful monitoring and drugs and diet. 

They said they are glad he came in now on his own, instead of on a stretcher after have a heart attack

They wanted to keep him in the hospital yet tonight to make sure he does not react to any of the drugs negatively, but instead they opted to keep him all afternoon and have him meet with the team of docs and the pharmacy staff to teach him about the drugs.  And then lecture him (teach him and mom) hahaha  on new diets and methods of cooking for low cholesterol and heart healthy stuff...   And once they are satisfied they are done with all that, they will let mom drive him home and make him rest tonight.

She said they did take a few walking laps around the halls together to get him up and around.  

What a change this will be for them, as they do like their fried foods and desserts.  LOL 

Mom said they appreciate all the prayers and good wishes... I copied and pasted a bunch to her in an email to show her all the kind support from everyone. 

Thank you guys all so much!   

He is the world to her and she would be so lost without him!  We love you so much, Lowell! 

Update on Lowell

UPDATE.. for those of you asking... 




Our dad Lowell (we don't use the term *steps* in our family)
is in the VA hospital in Gainesville FL.  Mom said they did a 
bunch of tests today, and tomorrow he is getting a camera --- 
and I am thinking some sort of angioplasty   --- 
up into the heart. 


They figure there are possible blockages. Won't know till they 
get in there. She said it might be surgery if fully blocked, 
or it might be just partial blockages. 


He got to eat tonight, and is in good spirits. 
He has wayyyy too many projects for this to slow him down! 
Prayers are appreciated.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!! See the Christmas Monkeys????

(My dad Lowell is in the hospital... he was not feeling well for a week, so he finally went in to Urgent Care in Gainsville, Florida.  They immediately put him in the hospital due to high blood pressure, chest pains and are going to do tests and keep him for observation. They immediately gave him nytro and aspirin, and we are waiting to hear from Mom.  Prayers are appreciated)

***SNOW*** 

I know for you non-snow folks, this may be boring.  

But it's about all we got going on here in Wisconsin is SNOW!

I woke up to this soft Sugar Snow coming down this morning.  

It's 4:30 a.m. and I snapped a few pics out the patio door to see

the flakes reflecting in the lights from the deck.

THIS is the kind of snow they show in the movies... 

It's like a Winter Fairyland out there, soft--- floating--- sparkly---  just like in a snow globe.   

Yes, it's feeling like Christmas.   

(not the wind whipping, driving, blasting, horrible blizzard stuff we had last week)

We are due to get about 7-10" today of the soft fluffy snow.  I am sitting by the light of the Christmas tree, working on my Christmas cards which SHOULD get out by today.   I had everything else done, the gift wrapping and shopping, most of the baking, and lots and lots of last minute sock orders for folks.  I had to wait to do my cards because I wanted a "special photo" to put in them.

See....I needed to get THIS photo..... 

Trying to wrangle them and get them all to sit in one spot was a feat, to be sure!

(Granfaddah picked out the jammies... they look like little Prisoners!)

We are doing a tradition here of giving our grandkids new jammies each year to wear on Christmas Eve. We all got together on Sunday at our son Dan's house to share some fun, family, laughter and let the kids open some presents to each other.   Here are our little Christmas Monkeys---  yes Monkeys!    Trying on their jammies that they can wear on Christmas Eve --- when they pop into bed with dreams of sugarplums dancing in their heads???

They were only glum for the picture posing.  The rest of the time they were squealing in delight, 

eating pizza, running around and having a darned good time. 

This was our only time that all three of our kid's families could meet in one place, due to family obligations with their spouses' families too.   We will see Erin/Mark/Chelsea on Christmas Eve and then Heather/Jesse/Jameson will join up with us there later and they will stay overnight.  We will drive back over to Erin and Mark's on Christmas morning to be with all of them.  Then about 10 am on Christmas Day, we have to pack up and head out to Steve's folks gathering in Waupaca, WI about 100 miles from here to have a celebration with Steve's siblings and parents.  There Dan/Heather/Allegra will meet up with us.  So we will get to see all of our kids and grandkids on Christmas, just not all at the same time!

We ate pizzas, watched the Packer Game (they lost) and enjoying the decorations at Dan and Heather's home. It sure was great to be all together and enjoy the family. 

Santa had sent along some special little snow globes that were really rubber bouncy balls.  

Boy oh boy, those were a HIT with the wee ones.  

But I got in my Grandkid time, even if we had to pin them down for a photo!

They are in constant motion and on the move, too busy for picture posing nowadays. 

Last weekend, Steveio must have been pining away for a campfire.  He decided to light up a big brush pile he had stacked up during the summer of downed branches and a few small trees we lost from storms. That is a tall column of sparks floating up 30 feet over his head.  Yes, he needed a campfire.  I think he was trying to heat up the outdoors. LOL

I tried to get a shot of the moon, but mostly got reflection on our trees. 

I guess I better get these cards done, the printer is finished with the annual holiday letter, complete with the new pic of our Little Christmas Monkeys.  I got the envelopes addressed, the stamps bought, the cards ready, and now can get them in the mail before the holiday.  Sipping my coffee from a special blue mug from my friend Juanita.

Thinking of my family and holding them in my heart. Hope to hear from Mom soon.