Family Christmas 2009

The Christmas Season is in full swing at the Rasmussen house. This past weekend we hosted my(Tracy's) family for our annual Christmas party and (I'm pretty sure) a good time was had by all. I know that a good time was had by ME, so that's the most important thing, right?

Anyway, the entire dinner was almost ruined by my refrigerator in the garage which apparently thought it was a freezer and never did defrost my turkey. Unfortunately I didn't discover this until Friday night at around 11:30, so Rob actually drove first to Morgantown to see if the Walmart had any turkeys and then (when all THOSE turkeys were frozen, too) drove all the way in the OTHER direction to the other side of the universe to find a 24-hour Giant store that did have a lovely turkey for me to cook. YAY!! (It was good, too!)

While he was out shopping, I was setting the table. Here's the adult table:

And here's the kids' table. The kids' table had Hannah, Lizzie, Tommy, Brenna, Tracy, T.A. and one adult: Ann. :) The next morning both girls were up EARLY and anxiously awaiting our guests. Hannah was particularly excited and sat in the living room looking out the window for a good hour even though I told her no one was going to be here before 10:30 or so. But she did look pretty while waiting, didn't she? (The flower was her idea): I didn't take a whole lot of pictures before dinner because I was cooking, but I DID get a picture of Grandma making gravy. Let me tell you the entire party was very THANKFUL that I made her do this, because I make terrible watery gravy and my mother does not. Also, Tally (who held this party for about 20 years before she moved to South Carolina and forced the others of us to take over...) told me LATER that I was supposed to have my mom peel the potatoes. So I guess I've begun a NEW tradition:

The girls' iCarly remote was a big hit with Brenna. One of the buttons makes a Boo-ing noise and she hit it whenever anything displeased her:

Tommy and Lizzie sharing a moment, and quite possibly a stomach bug. Lizzie got sick later that afternoon :(

Shelby proudly displays the colored pencils she got in her Christmas cracker (that's where all the crowns come from by the way ... it's another holiday tradition that we wear the crowns for the rest of the afternoon). Casey on the other hand is wondering what the heck was in his Christmas cracker...
Tommy is holding up someone in the family for more presents, with the water pistol he got:

We were all happy to see Shelby, by the way. She came up from North Carolina for the weekend and had to return on Monday to take her last final for the semester.
Rob and Mark checking out their crackers. Mark got a mini-phone book which I'm sure will come in very handy in his retirement, and I have no idea what Rob got. I got a shoe horn, by the way. And T.A. got a pair of tweezers so we did get some VERY useful gifts:
We always celebrate my dad's birthday. He was 79 or 59 this year, depending on whom you asked:

And, of course there's always a sing-along or music or some sort of game going on. In this case Tally is teaching Tommy to play the piano. This is a very Garrity event, since Tally doesn't know how to play the piano, but still thinks she can teach someone else to play. And, she can...

She had Lizzie playing "Chopsticks" like a pro by the end of the party:
Lizzie takes a bow while Aunt Tina - who did NOT learn to play "Chopsticks" watches:Terry played the one song she knows ... some sort of Native American cover:

Small children looking cute: More cuteness. As I scrolled through the pictures I took, I noticed that Tommy did not like looking at me. Ever.

Tina got a defective crown. Or else her head is really, really, really big:

Time to go. Brenna says goodbye:

Ann, Tina and Tommy say goodbye (I shot this through the wreath on the front door):

But before we go, let's take a look at the whole gang (except me, since I didn't have my tripod for a timed picture and didn't want to be in the picture anyway, but will probably photoshop myself in at some point since my mother told me too...):

Thanks to my family for making the weekend so much fun, and I am sorry about the ice storm and traffic you all had to endure on the way home.