There we are!

My cousin's daughter posted the professional pictures from her wedding on FB the other day. For this picture, the photographer was upstairs and they asked everyone to get out on the dance floor for a picture. Cindy is to the right. Several cousins are in the picture, and cousins' kids (and their kids). Aunt Lorene is on the far right by the front, in the black outfit.

And here we are as my cousin walked his daughter down the aisle. Andy is circled on the left, Cindy circled on the right and I'm below the arrow, hidden. At least the pictures don't make the ceremony look as cold as it actually was.

Andy, Cindy and I are in the background talking to the bride while her sisters pose for a picture.

It just gets better

I thought the sunset was pretty when I snapped this picture at 4:20 p.m.

but this was 20 minutes later!

Interrupted by August

B and I haven't done a puzzle in a while so I pulled put a 500-piece winter-themed one yesterday afternoon. You never know what you'll get with a Goodwill puzzle and this one had the edge pieces in a separate bag from the rest of the puzzle. Good thing B was working when I discovered that or he would have insisted on mixing them all together before starting. I didn't get very far after putting the frame together because August decided he needed a nap.

John Oliver show

E had spent the afternoon downtown visiting with two of her sorority sisters and met up with D later to see John Oliver at the Chicago Theater. They were surprised to see that he'd be in town while they were home for Christmas so they bought tickets a few weeks ago.

The said the show was good.

Strike two

I didn't get a present from the kids on Christmas because they ordered me a pair of Birkenstocks and the wrong style AND size were shipped to the house. L didn't know until she opened the package on Christmas Eve when she got home. When we went shopping on the 26th she helped the cashier make the exchange and ordered the right pair. Well, they sent the right shoe this time but a size 42. It's huge.

Picture of my foot in the shoe, as suggested by Cindy. Cute sandal.

Organizing

It all started when I realized I had taper candles stashed in several places. I rounded all of them up and put them in a single box. Then I got ambitious and went through everything in our basement storage area.

Things are sorted by holiday - Easter, Christmas, Halloween and Thanksgiving. The boxes are even labeled.

Back to Champaign

B was up in me to give L a send-off as we drove her back to Champaign today. She had to work at 11 a.m. so we left by 8 a.m.

E went along for the ride (and we bought her lunch at Merry Ann's).

Saw this cloud on the drive down. Looks like a Christmas tree.

We dropped L off at her friend's house where she's staying for break. She gave us a clothesbasket of holiday clothes to take home. Best thing was that her car started right up, especially after days of very, very cold weather.

Shopping the sales

Andy, E, L and I did a little post-Christmas shopping at Yorktown and Oak Brook. Here's E at Yorktown in a snowman lol.

We hung out in the new Barbara's Bookstore waiting dor L to finish her shopping. This might be a good book to give E for her birthday so she can laugh about her Midwestern roots. B opted to stay home but I found him two nice sweaters at Kohl's. We were talking this morning how he should have a couple nice shirts in case he ever needs one.

We had lunch at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria.

L and E are teying to figure out where which frats have houses at U of I. L was using straw wrappers to represent streets. Wierd kids.

We saw smoke as we were leaving Oak Brook. We drove toward it and saw a Maywood church on fire, right along the Eisenhower. We later saw a report about it on the news.

Aw! L and Muffles.

Family Christmas

We set up a table for the big kids in the living room so they were able to get their food first and go sit down. We were expecting 14 but cousin C's boyfriend wasn't feeling well.

The cousins. I have a total of 13 dinner plates so the kids got to use the good china this year.

We had eight in the dining room which gives everyone plenty of space. We had beef tenderloin, carrots, mashed potatoes and burnt rolls (long story). E and D made two sauces to go with the beef. One was red wine and the other was a Parmesan cheese sauce.

After dinner we played Bingo while watching "Christmas Story."

Andy was the caller.

Ready for the family

The table is set.

This year's theme is red and green. Even the "kids" will get to use china plates and my fancy silverware this year ... and we're going to set up a table in the living room so they won't be banished to the basement.

Andy has been waiting since Thanksgiving to show off this lighted "Christmas Vacation" wine box.

We had to pull up a YouTube video to show Andy how to trim and tie the tenderloin. There were lots of videos to choose from.

Appetizers ready.

Enjoying our pre-party margarita.

Christmas morning

E went to D's house for his family Christmas and stayed overnight so she missed the early-morning festivities at our house. B and L were slow to rise and then had breakfast before opening presents. The kids gave Andy a sous vid cooking kit.

B actually asked for a new sweatshirt. He's hard to buy for so he also got a puzzle and other clothes, mostly sweatpants and pajama pants.

L, on the other hand, is easy to buy for. She wants it all. I think she was most surprised with this Epcot makeup kit B gave her.

We got her Air Tags so she can always find her keys, backpack, etc. We ordered them from the Apple store so we were able to personalize them. I got a new Vera Bradley tote bag that I ordered myself and a mattress pad to try to make our bed softer. I think I need a mattress tooper, but we'll see. The kids ordered a pair of Birkenstocks for me but Journeys screwed up and sent the wrong shoes. L was not happy. In typical mom fashion, there were no pictures of me opening presents.

E and D arrived around 10 a.m. (D was wearing the quarter-zip sweater we gave him for Christmas). E opened her presents and then ...

they searched for the pickle ornament (a first for D). E found it and her prize was a big chocolate Santa.

Happy all the kids were able to come home.

E and D.

Christmas Eve road trip

Andy and I drove to Champaign this afternoon to bring L home for Christmas. The roads were clear. These are about the biggest drifts we saw (fortunately).

Our first stop was the mall and we found her. It was pajama day at work.

We let her finish working while we went out to a few stores. This was at Rural King, where you never know what you'll find - including this tub of bacon grease. Andy was happy to have some of the Rural King free popcorn.

My Rural King deal was 75 percent off these lights. Regularly $8.99 and we got them for $2.25. I bought three sets of 25 lights then Andy found a roll of the same lights with 100 bulbs. It was regularly $29.99 so we got it for $7.50. My plan is to have Andy put these on the garage next year.

Most of the stores were closed by 6 p.m. and L still had an hour of work so we drove around campus. Here's the Alma Mater statue. The campus streets were pretty bare.

I also learned Mango has been adopted by Schubert's family. Apparently he just walked into their house a week or so ago. I was glad to learn he's not out in this cold. He looks like he's comfortable there. I imagine they'll stop by once the temperatures warm up.

We got home around 9:30 p.m. We missed the Christmas Eve service at church so maybe I'll see if L wants to go with Andy to the Sunday service tomorrow. Lots of people have been asking when she's coming home.

The unveiling of L's second tattoo we didn't know she had gotten. It's bigger than I would have liked but it's not my arm. We asked her to refrain from getting any more until she's settled in a career-type job.