Christmas in Indiana

Christmas was an adventure. Stu and I drove from New Orleans with a car full of presents and two dogs. The day we left NOLA it was 78 degrees and eleven hours later when we pulled into my parent’s driveway our thermometer read a frightening one degree. Brrrrrrr!! I forgot how cold Indiana was.

We spent 9 days in Indiana visiting ALOT of family. We tried to get in as much time with everyone as possible because we knew it would be awhile before we saw everyone again.

It was so good to see my niece Sophia who is now 20 months old. Leaving her 6 months ago was so tough on me since I’d been living with her since she was born. To my surprise she recognized me right away and reached out for me as I was walking up the steps. Stu and I had so much fun playing with her and staying with my sister and brother-in-law. This was the first time since we’ve been married that Stu got to spend time with Joost. They are two peas in a pod.





We spent the 23rd with Don and Terri and of course Cosmo and Louie (the doggies). Good food, good drinks, good company, and a little Wii playing made for a good time. After designing our Wii profiles on the Wii fit and having it tell us how out of shape we were we have now joined a gym for the new year and are determined to prove the nasty, but very honest, Wii fit wrong next year. I have attached a picture of Don and Teri’s unique Christmas tree and no this picture has not been altered their tree was really upside down.






The 24th morning was spent at the HUGE Flannery get-together in Batesville wherein we ate too much and left too soon. This is my favorite get-together of the year. Stu’s uncles and aunts are the funniest most loving people I’ve met and there are just so many of them. “Brunch” which defined in Flannery terms means - so much food you cannot see counter space anywhere in the kitchen - was at Bill and Ginger’s house. We ate, celebrated, chatted with family, watched Kung-Fu Panda (no Rummikub this year) and headed to Greenwood to spend the evening with Nancy and Dave.

Stu’s brother Nic and Jenni and their kids met up with us at Nancy and Dave’s house. We ate and then went to church for the Christmas Eve service and back to the house to open presents. Apollo and Noah loved the Nerf guns we bought them…probably more so then Nic and Jenni. The boys fired away the Nerf guns as the adults opened their presents.














Christmas day was spent with my family. I was so excited to see Sophia open her presents. After we opened presents we had lunch at my parent’s house and Uncle Jim and Aunt Edna celebrated with us. Stu and I again ate way too much and afterwards took a nap. We raced Julie and Joost in Mario Cart on the Wii and watched a few movies and enjoyed everyone. (I will post these pics soon).
I just want to thank everyone for the presents, good company, and hospitality while we were in. We enjoyed every minute of being home.