The pre-Christmas get-together

On Sunday Rob's family came down from North Carolina for a few h0urs so we could have a little Christmas celebration together.

I was grateful at how low-stress they made it for me. We ordered a Veggie Tray and Sandwich Wheel from Publix, they brought a homemade pie, and we used paper plates and cups.


This is Rob's sister Carol and her boyfriend John.



This is our neice Anna (Carol's oldest daughter) and her husband Thor. Thor is in the military and they are stationed in Jacksonville. They had been visiting everyone in North Carolina, so they drove down with them and then headed back home after the visit.



This is a cute picture of Rachael and Rebecca with little purses they got from their grandparents. Rachael had been wearing that outfit for several days (yes, I did manage to wash it while she was at dance class). It is her "Alice" costume.



This is Baby Ben's present from his grandparents, but I think all three kids liked it!

I don't have a picture of the Big Hit Gift: The Grotto! Well, actually it's an Ariel vanity, but the girls loaded the drawers with the jewelry and pretend make-up and cell phone that they got from Aunt Carol, and called it their grotto.

We barely saw them for the next 24 hours. They would come out of their room briefly to eat or something, they say, "You wanna go play grotto?" and run back into their room together. When I walked past their door, I would hear things like "You went to the surface? That makes me so mad!" or made-up songs about living in the sea.