Christmas in Ohio, Installment I: Grandmother’s House

As with any holiday during which one takes a week’s worth of pictures with numerous people who are significant in one’s life, our Christmas vacation blog will have to be several posts long. In no particular order, we start with Grandma and Grandpa Jeff’s house, Christmas Eve. Though, I might add, this was towards the end of our visit.

My mom was gracious enough to host all 34,821 of us (alright, it was more like 16 plus 4 dogs) for Christmas Eve dinner and festivities. Five grandsons ran a muck, screaming and chasing and laughing and wrestling and fighting and strangling and time-outing… and one of these heathens is still only crawling. Ah, think of the Christmases to come!

Christmas Beast

Gentle as a lamb

Oliver clearly bonded with the dog

Christmas Eve Feast

After an absolutely AMAZING feast, we partook in the usual activities of holiday gluttony. Present-opening by the fire was made even more magical by the sheer number of people who were able to squeeze quite comfortably into one room.

… but some spilled out into adjoining areas for a little quiet time

and not so quiet time

Sporting some rad t-shirts courtesy of Milo and Oliver’s Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jon,

which of course resulted in the typical attempt to take a picture of 5 boys in a neat row, each one year apart…

which of course resulted in no usable pictures. Bummer.

Lovin’ on some Grandma

And there you have Christmas Eve. Absolutely perfect and delightful.

Which is how I always tend to feel at my mom’s house. Funny, she and Jeff moved out of the house we all grew up in and built this great place out in the country on thirty-some acres partially in the woods and overlooking a beautiful wild-looking field often dotted with various wildlife. So yes, it is great, and no, it is not the actual house or even town I grew up in, yet it still never fails to be the most relaxing place to me. I find myself growing sleepier there. Naps are mandatory. It is a wonderful place to be. I guess anywhere my mom is will be that place.

And as Milo and Oliver grow older, Grandma becomes more enthusiastic about telling and showing them all the things they need to know about a grandmother’s place.

A nature walk in the snowy woods, looking at animal prints,

making animal prints of our own,

and locating Woodpecker Tree, the special place that grandmothers know is a magical place.

Behold!

We love you, Mom, Grandma, You!