Christmas Comes Early at the Coleman Ranch

This year we did our Christmas celebration early. With the family growing and the kids needing to go to more places than ever before, we decided that Jesus wouldn't mind if we celebrated his birthday early. So the family all came to the our home over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd.
The adults also decided to exchange hand made gifts rather than contributing to the commercialism of Christmas. It was an awesome weekend with lots of laughing, lots of food, and some crazy loud singing of Christmas caroles. Nana said we sounded terrible but because we were having so much fun she encouraged us to keep singing. My brother Steve and I made an attempt at old fashioned popcorn balls and candied apples, but they didn't come out very well so we decided that we wouldn't keep that new tradition. We had a great prime rib dinner with all the fixin's Saturday night and then Sunday morning we opened gifts and Joni made us maple corn fritters. And since Scott's birthday is the 23rd, we celebrated his day, too. Family and togetherness, that is what it was all about for us this year. Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

We started slow by making sure the dogs all had red and green scarves. This first picture is of our granddogs, Lily and Maxine and our dogs, Hermie and Bailey. The dogs got a long great and ran around in the yards until they were pooped.

Next we have a picture of Dan dressed for cold weather to go fishing. He caught a nice trout at the lake with Scott.
The family all gathered together for our annual photo. These next two pictures show the gang gathered by the tree with dogs eyes all a glow.

Next is Steve trying to get Hermie to be his friend. He brought treats for all the dogs. Hermie growled at Steve most of the weekend but he wouldn't give up.

Joni and Kristen strung popcorn and cranberries to add to our tree.

And our newest tradition, reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by the fire. Joni and Dominic took turns reading and showing the pictures. I couldn't believe how quiet the house was while they read the story. And finally, Dominic poses while he opens his presents. He actually opened them slowly this year and checked each present out before moving on to the next one.