It’s hard to believe the holidays have come and gone. It was an enjoyable time for Wendy and me. In fact, Wendy commented the other day that these were the most enjoyable holidays for her in many years. For the archives, here’s a run down of what we did this year.

On Sunday the 23rd, Wendy and I hosted the Vander Hart clan (that’s Wendy’s mother’s family) at our house in the afternoon. Eighteen people are a lot to squeeze into Vander Well Manor, but it’s a loving bunch so everyone rubbed elbows and enjoyed appetizers and goodies while we chatted the afternoon away. I enjoyed hanging out with a bunch of the other kids (I’m still a kid, aren’t I?) and catching up on where they are and what they’re doing.

Christmas Eve Day was quiet for Wendy and me. There was nothing on the calendar except for helping video tape the Christmas Eve service at church in the afternoon. Wendy was in the Director’s chair while I helped on camera. We spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house, preparing the Christmas meal ahead of time and wrapping a lot of gifts we’d left until the last minute. We were nestled all snug in our bed when  Taylor and Clayton arrived in the wee hours. Taylor worked until late and they drove down to be at our house on Christmas morning.

With children coming and going, we haven’t had the chance to make really firm Christmas traditions, but Christmas breakfast is the closest we’ve come to it. This year, Wendy made homemade cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole. We enjoyed having Clayton and Taylor with us. After breakfast Madison joined us on FaceTime. We’d sent her gifts back to Colorado with her and we all opened gifts together.

Taylor and Clayton headed to Clayton’s mother’s house while Wendy and I cleaned up and headed to Des Moines. We’d made crock pot French Dip and took that with us to the Vander Wells. We had lunch at my folks and then opened gifts in the afternoon before Wendy and I headed back home.

On the 26th, we picked up Wendy’s sister, Becky and her husband, Court, and headed north to the Hall family gathering at Mom & Dad Hall’s place in Boone. It was small gathering as most of the seven siblings and their families were unable to attend. Lucas’ girlfriend Polley joined us from Tennesse, however and maybe it was a good thing that she didn’t get overwhelmed with the entire crew all at once! We had a wonderful Iowa meal of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, stuffing and homemade bread. I piled everything together on my plate swirled it together and dug in! Mmmmmmm.

On Friday night, Dec 28th we went to Des Moines for the afternoon to peruse the after Christmas sales. We then met our friends Kevin and Becky at Chuck’s restaurant where we enjoyed celebrating our anniversary and hearing our friend Heather singing. I was also surprised to find that the piano player was a guy I went to high school with and we enjoyed a nice conversation. It was one of those evenings of sitting down at the table a little after six then enjoying a drawn out meal and entertainment. We didn’t get up from the table until 10:30.

The weekend was fairly quiet. On Saturday Becky & Court drove to Pella and we dined at the Windmill Cafe with Grandma VH, Uncle Mel and Aunt Linda. Becky and Court stuck around and chatted the afternoon away. On Sunday, Wendy and I sat on the couch and cheered the Vikings into the playoffs with a victory over the Packers!

On New Year’s we headed to Chad and Shays for appetizers and wine along with friends Matthew and Sarah. Dinner at Kaldera and then back to our house for Wendy’s cheesecake. Then, it was back to Chad and Shay’s to relieve the babysitter. Chad, Shay, Wendy and I popped the cork on the bubbly and the four of us quietly rang in the new year.

New Year’s Day was when the decorations came down and we worked to clean up the house. Things are back to normal and the routine has already begun to set back in, but it was a restful and loving time with family and friends this year.

Looking forward to many good things in 2013!