Christmas #1

Last Saturday marked the beginning of our Christmas season. Well, it was the official beginning; I (Julie) started Christmas in August. Actually, this celebration was later than usual this year. Normally, we celebrate Christmas with our mom's parents on or around Halloween, because they leave for Arizona usually the beginning of November. But this year, some very special people were coming home this past week, and so they decided to wait a few weeks to make their escape. Our Uncle Shane, who has been driving truck in North Dakota, was here for the week, along with our cousin Ross and his wife Brittany, who flew up from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Our cousin Sam has been training in Washington as part of the Army Ranger program, and he flew in about a week ago. He will most likely be deployed to Afghanistan sometime this winter. We are so proud of him and his willingness to serve our country. It was so good to see all of them again! A big change this year was the location of our get-together. It has always been at Grandpa and Grandma's house, but this year, something was wrong with their well, so they had basically no water. That is not a good situation when you have 21 people coming over! So instead, we went to our Uncle Dave and Auntie Amber's house.

Taylor and I hung the ornaments on the tree.

The Gooch's dog, Reese.

It has always been tradition for us girls to bring our American Girl dolls. This year, Taylor was excited because she finally has a doll to bring to! L-R: Taylor's Chrissa, Julie's Felicity, Amy's Kirsten, and Katie's Kit. Missing is Hannah's Josefina because they hadn't come yet.

Grandma and Mom

The Guntzel Girls

L-R: Ross, Brittany, Grandma, Julie

Grandpa and Sam

Taylor, Hannah, and Amy getting ready for our Christmas carol sing-along. Hannah's Aunt Mary is in the background.

Grandpa and Grandma admiring a very adorable Santa Claus painting from Carson.

Our great-uncle Bruce opening his big box of homemade muffins. He told Mom once that on Sundays, he makes a batch of muffins (the mix kind where you just add water), and eats the whole batch while he reads the paper. Mom thought it was a shame to always make those kind from the mix, which are ok, but not anything compared to homemade, so last Christmas we gave him a big box of homemade muffins for him to take home and freeze, and we did it again this year. I think we made 6 or 7 kinds, and he was thrilled!