The Day After Christmas

Christmas with Halle and Hayden

Yippee, an IPAD

Dinner

The Cooks

The Guys Putting Together Halle's New Bed

A Happy Girl in her New Bed

Drew and I are up at 6:30, to darkness and from the weather report, a miserable day, of sleet and rain, lots of gray.  No snow yet forecast and we hope this lasts for one more day since we are driving to Darien, to Beth' tomorrow.  I know snow is coming to Chautauqua, just hope it does not move east too quickly.  So far, it looks to be just rain.  Right now it sounds like pouring rain but when I looked outside, the deck is covered with white, either slush or snow.  It's  about 33º outside at 7:33.

Bristow Morning at 7:33

Yesterday began with a bang, ended with a whimper, very tired children and adults, as both Halle and Hayden literally passed out in the evening from tiredness.  Both were up early, but sent back to their beds till 6:30, when all got up.  The present opening went exceptionally fast, as each girl received one big present, lots of smaller ones.  For Hayden, opening presents was a appetizer to her last, a new Mini IPAD, which is really all she wanted.  As you can see, she whooped it up.  Halle got a new double bed from IKEA, a great gift unless you are Drew, who was up till 1:30 putting parts together.  Then, after the present opening, it took both of us another two to three hours to finish  it, especially the four drawers beneath the frame.  While Drew and I put the bed together, Evie, Jill and Halle completely took Halle's room apart so that when all was done, she had a new room.  She liked it so much that she went upstairs around 2:00 for a nap. How cute.

None of us left the house yesterday, even for a walk, the girls playing with their presents, having friends over, the adults recovering from a long night.  About 3:30, Drew's sister and her family came over with their three kids.  So we didn't see much of the kids the rest of the afternoon, as they immediately go down the basement to play with each other.  We sat around watching some of the NBA game, talking, sipping wine, and getting the prime rib ready for dinner.  With mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts and salad, we had a feast.  The prime rib was perfect, both some medium and rare done slices, and we did an amazing job on it, with only enough left for roast beef sandwiches today, alas.  The Brock's left around 8:00, we cleaned up the kitchen, watched some TV, as Hayden fell asleep downstairs and Halle struggled to sleep, overtired, with Evie.  All were in bed by 10:00, a good day for the Bissell family.