Party Day

Oh. My. Goodness. 

We had a great time, and as it happened, both families were not here concurrently.  Jim's family was held up because Jacob's game was at 1 instead of noon... and Keith had told his family to be here at noon, when I thought we were eating at 2.  I took the eggs down to the food kitchen/thrift store, and stood around visiting (and shopping, again) and then wandered home with my finds.  Imagine my surprise when stepdaughter Amber and baby grandson Jace pulled in ten minutes later!

I had already done the potato casserole, thank heavens, and we popped the ham in to warm up right away! 

Once Jace got here, Keith was useless.

Yes, he's a little doll.  He had a Mizzou outfit.

Here's the Star of the Party with Mom Amber, left, and Aunt Andrea, right.

There was a lot of visitin' goin' on...

Then, the first families all departed and Jim and Amy and the kids came... so there was a second round of eatin'

And present openin'

And then we had a couple of hours of quiet and rest...

I started out with a Christmas Sweatshirt, honest.

I know you're all beginning to think I spend all my time on the couch.

After our rest, we dressed up in our good duds and went to the Kansas City Ballet performance of the Nutcracker, at the new Kaufman Performing Arts Center.

Here are Keith and his parents in the lobby.

And here is the lobby we were in:

Yes, it's mighty spectacular, and there would have been pictures taken from that second-from-the-top tier, but the camera locked down.  I have a message "Memory Card Locked" which I have never seen before on any camera I have had.  I was able to take the pictures off it, but not erase them.  I have no idea what I have done, and tomorrow, when I am less exhausted, I'll read the manual and try to figure it out.  I did take the card out to show my mother in law, but only as I normally do. I was unable to take another picture, including any of the lobby from above. 

Though I have seen the Nutcracker literally hundreds of times, it still represents the Christmas season to me, and it was a wonderful end to a blessed family day.

It's 11:39, and Keith is already asleep, as I will be shortly!  Back to regular farm news tomorrow!