random Christmas-ness // part II

Next up: SLEDDING. 

 

I mean, for REAL.

 

This ain't no joke up in IL.  They have a "sledding hill", y'all.  With an official sign and everything.  So when you say you're going sledding, THIS is what you mean.

 

[just trying to get to the top (without spilling the kid), for cryin' out loud]

Obviously, Deacon had never been sledding up to this point in his short life, and if THIS is what true sledding is, then neither had I.  A new experience for us both.

Neither one of us a big fan, after the fact.

 

 

[yeah, I am NOT laughing here.  That is not laughter on my face.]

 

I mean, I guess if you grew up here and you had all the GEAR to go out and spend the day in sub-zero temps sliding down a hill made up of 4-5 inches of really packed down snow (and when I say "gear", I don't mean the sled), then sure.  I guess that would be fun.

 

Not so much for us born-n-bred NC folk.

 

 

Nonetheless, word on the street is you haven't experienced winter in Freeport unless you've gone sledding at Krape Park.  So we did (the total time we were out there doesn't really matter, right??), and we can now say we're in that club.    The I'm-bored-let's-go-freeze-our-behinds-off-at-Krape-and-try-not-to-hit-any-trees club.

 

 

[one of the 2 other times Deacon went down; Grandpa Duane flipped him (purely by accident) and we were NOT getting him back on that sled after that.]

 

random Christmas-ness // part I

Oh, wow...I'm still carrying on with these Christmas adventures??  Well, yeah.  That's what happens when you take a week and a half off from work to spend with family you don't see often.  You cram A.BUNCH. of stuff into one week.

So we had all the Christmas celebrations, but then we had other stuff (festivities, fun activities, etc.) going on, too.  So stayed tuned, cuz I do have a few more posts to share on our time in IL.

This post will be on Christmas Eve.  We arrived in IL on Christmas Eve around lunchtime.  Jeff's brother, Scott, picked us up from the airport and we hung out with them in Palatine (a few hours from where Jeff's parents live) until their Christmas Eve started at their church, Willow Creek Community.

Awesome service, by the way.

So these photos are from our time with them on Christmas Eve...

 

Can you see the residual chocolate around his mouth?  That Uncle Scott...

 

 

 

Aunt Jill was brave to let Deacon mess around with her presents.  :)

 

 

Walking out to the car for the service -- it was pretty slick on the sidewalk.

 

On the 4th day of Christmas...

...we were in Lexington, NC!

 

We got together with my family in Lexington the weekend after we got back from IL, so we celebrated Christmas with them -- there were 11 of us -- on Jan 4.

 

We did actually eat breakfast first, which doesn't usually happen (we usually tear into those gifts as soon as we can get everyone gathered :). But my mom made a scrumptious meal and we enjoyed sitting around the table eating good food and catching up.

 

Next came the gifts.  We've always done stockings in my family until this year.  The young kids -- Cora Beth, Bear and Deacon -- still had them but the adults didn't.  Kind of a bummer but it was fun to watch the kids open theirs, and because we didn't have any to open, we were able to see their reactions to a lot of the stuff they found in their stocking.  They did pretty well finding everything and figuring out what it all was, but things began to get mixed up due to the "one-for-each-of-them" thing + everything ending up on the floor instead of back in the bag -- er, I mean, stocking.  (I can't even tell you the last time we had an actual stocking w/gifts in it -- those just don't hold much.)

 

Anyway, we got everything sorted out with some "hey, is that yours, buddy, or does that belong to Bear?" and that was that.  And with the exception of a very cranky ready-but-not-ready-to-take-a-nap-Deacon (who got put down for a nap shortly thereafter), we had a nice time opening the regular gifts, seeing what everyone got.  That's how we roll in the McAfee house -- we usually go around and everyone opens their gifts one at a time, so we can see what they get, their reaction, etc.  It takes us a while, but it's fun.

 

I live fairly close to my family, considering how far Jeff is from him, so we do get to see them much more.  However, everyone is so busy with their own lives that we really don't get to see as much of each other as you would think, given the 4 hour distance that separates us.  So time with my family is precious when we're able to gather for a special occasion, not the least of which is Jesus' birthday.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

...from Gram & Buppa (Deacon's great-grandparents)... 

 

 

...Bear & Deacon both got one!

[Bear, 23 mos  |  Deacon, 26 mos]

 

...so precious -- I missed Deacon's hug for Gram, but captured this tender-hearted moment of thanks for Gram from Bear...

 

 

Whew!  So yeah, 4 days of Christmas celebrating, over the span of 2 weeks.  We so enjoyed being able to spend time with both of our families this year.  I hope y'all had an equally wonderful Christmas season.  Here's to a new year in 2013 -- be blessed!

On the 3rd day of Christmas...

...we were in Freeport, IL!

 

We spent the week we were in IL with Jeff's mom & dad, in his hometown of Freeport.  We celebrated Christmas with his immediate family -- the 13 of us + 3 dogs -- on Saturday, Dec 29.  Jeff has 3 brothers, one older and two younger, and we were all able to be there for Christmas so it was a full house, but we all enjoyed being together.

 

Grandpa Duane (Jeff's dad) and Deacon played Santa, handing out presents to everyone and then we all tore in.  We got some really great things, but it was just nice to be with all of Jeff's brothers and their families for the day.  Deacon entertained us all, of course, but we enjoyed spending time by the fire, eating good food, building puzzles & playing cards.  We all get along great and it's always nice to spend time with them...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ clock that Jeff made for his mom ]

 

 

 

 

[ Grandpa Duane & Grandma Sherry with their grandkids ]

 

 

On the 2nd day of Christmas...

...we were in Lena, IL!

 

By Christmas day, we'd made it through our flights with no problems at all, and we'd been in IL (or "the frozen tundra", as I like to call it :) for 12 hours.  We all gathered in Lena, IL to celebrate Christmas at the request of Jeff's Grandma Wenzel.  She sent invitations/requests out LAST Christmas asking that everyone join her and Grandpa Wenzel for Christmas 2012.  And here we all were!

 

And when I say "we all", I mean ALL 30 OF US.  There were 15 grandkids and 7 great-grandkids, and the rest were those from which we all stemmed.  I think I mentioned that Jeff has a large family.  :)

 

With that many peeps, we ended up at a community center in Lena so we'd have plenty of room to spread out and fellowship together.  We always eat good with Jeff's family, and this occasion was no exception.  We had all kinds of food, not to mention tons of yummy desserts.  We stuffed ourselves while catching up with everyone.

 

Before the meal, we put together "the pyramid" -- a long-standing tradition amongst the grandkids (and now the great-grandkids).  It's always a lot of fun and we have someone on standby to snap a photo before we all tumble to the ground.  We were only missing 2 of the 22 kids from the photo.

 

After we ate, Grandpa & Grandma gave gifts to their great-grandkids, and then had a couple of activities planned for the rest of us.  We all did a lot of laughing through that.  Then Grandpa Wenzel got up to speak.  He doesn't do that much so we all tuned in to listen to him speak about the history of the Wenzel name.  It was really interesting for me to hear, being one who is blessed to have married into the family.  We heard history of all the kids, one of them being Jeff's dad, and then a little of how each family shaped up.  It was a special time.

 

The day was made special by the time we got to spend with those we don't see very often, given the distance that separates us.  It was good to be with family on Christmas day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 1st day of Christmas...

...we were in Holly Ridge!

 

We got to celebrate Christmas 4 times this year!

1. in Holly Ridge, NC; our little family -- the 3 of us
2. in Lena, IL; Jeff's (very large) extended family -- the 30 of us
3. in Freeport, IL; Jeff's immediate family -- the 13 of us
4. in Lexingon, NC; Lindsay's immediate family -- the 11 of us

So the "first day of Christmas" for us was on Sunday, Dec 23.  Our church changed their schedule a bit on this day, deciding not to have our Connect Groups (SS classes) meet, nor were they having their early service at 8am.  Considering that we teach 2 Connect Groups on Sundays so we HAVE to go to the 8am service, that gave us quite a break.  A break I welcomed with open arms!

 

Not that I don't love our Connect Groups, cuz I do -- so whole-heartedly!  And not that I don't love the 8am service, cuz I do.  But it IS early.  Even earlier for us since we have to set up our room each week before we go to that service, so that it's ready for our CGs at 9:30 and then again at 11.

 

So.  Considering that we weren't having any of the above, we DID get a break!  We got to sleep in, for one.  We love us some sleep in the Wenzel house.  :)

 

We decided to do our Christmas as a family that morning since we'd have more time before needing to head to church for the 9:30am service.  Deacon did pretty good, but I think after hearing from us that he couldn't touch the presents under the tree (until we said he could), he was a little hesitant to tear into them.  :)

 

He seemed to like everything he got (yay!) and it was a lot of fun to watch him open the presents and then play with what was inside.  There's something about being able to share those special Christmas moments with just your own family.  Even if there are only 3 of you.  :)

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[26 months]