Christmas with Family!

Living in Illinois has had its wonderful "perks". Snow, deer roaming our yard, actual changing of seasons . . . but the biggest downfall has been being away from family during special holidays. This past year, Gaylene (Galen's sister),her husband Jim and their kids, Celeste and Garrett - as well as Galen's parents (Glenn & Grace) made the sacrifice of time and finances to come and spend Christmas with us (CHICAGO STYLE). Boy it was such a special time for our family and we enjoyed every second of every day (o.k. maybe not the freezing arctic temperatures). It snowed on Christmas creating a winter wonderland for our California natives! We spent lots of time hanging out, touring Chicago via the fine transit system and freezing our little buns off. We ate and ate and ate . . . and even got to enjoy some Chicago style dogs and pizza. Poppa and Gee Gee arrived in IL on the 23rd and were able to join us for our Christmas Eve service where Galen sang in the choir and I (of course) took pictures. The cousins (and some older folk -- wink wink -- Galen, Jim and Gaylene) went sledding at a local sledding hill. They saw deer, squirrels and even a little snow mouse that tried to stow away in Celeste's snow cap (better luck next time little guy!) It was a beautiful time with family. Enjoy the pictures!