Christmas is over!

Well, there were a lot of tears this afternoon in the Cryderclan households.  Even Grandma and I had our moments of loneliness.

Is it possible to have 24 people together in a lodge and not have even one major argument?  Well, we made it possible.  

Grandma made a humungous smorgasbord with honeybaked ham and smoked turkey.  Heidi made a traincar load of a delicious mexican flavored soup.  Liann and Mary made a baked potato lunch with all the toppings, Mary brought her well known baked goods, cookies, candies etc.  Of course the Kirkland coffee was always brewing!  Heather's baked spaghetti, and the trimmings was an immediate hit.  Oh, did I mention the pizza salad a la Heidi, and the mexican nacho dip by Liann, or the pumpkin, apple, cherry pies and brownies by Mom/Grandma.

We had the winter olympics, talent night, hockey night, video night, a piano recital by Crisilee, and a bean bag toss game that Chris and I made.  Michael, Chris, Crisilee, made dvd's, Bill digitized zillions of Grandpa Jopling's movies as a gift to his mom. (Made her cry!)  Ashlee made an excellent video reminding us of the genocide in Darfur.  (Made us all cry!)

So now it is quiet here in the Senior Cryderman household.  But if you listen carefully, in our hearts, we can still hear the laughter, the magic tricks, the games, the songs, all of which remind us of what a wonderfully diverse, yet united family we are!