Our Angel is growing up: Huffman Family Christmas Eve

As has become tradition, we headed to Justin's old house (Currently where his brother Dan lives) for Christmas Eve Day. Since Paige, Justin & I were all sick (I still need to write a catch up post on that) the weekend before, we did not make it down for our niece Teagan's 1st b-day party or our planned get together with our Friends Evan/Danielle and their 2 year old Maelee.

So we left a little early and stopped by their house when we got there. Unfortunately (for us only) Evan was working so we did not get to see the whole family. Maelee showed us their backyard where they have their chickens (one was recently attacked by a raccoon or something).

The we opened up presents and gave them ours.

We played for a few minutes and then we headed over to May ave for some fun with family. There were two special things about this years get together. Justin's dad & his wife Caroline were able to join us from Oregon/Alaska which is the first time since I have known Justin. I know it was nice for Paige to see her Grandpa. And Justin's oldest brother, Stan, was also there and was really engaging with the family. He has been battling a lot of demons since his mom died (When I really started becoming part of their family) and hasn't spent a lot of Christmases with us. I know that meant a lot to all of us, but most of all to his two kids Tyler & Joseph.

Michelle & Dan served a nice Prime Rib, and all of the fixings to go along with it. They always do a great job with the food and I know it is a lot of work, so it is appreciated.

Paige enjoyed hanging out with all of her cousins (Especially Alyssa). We opened presents and just had a great day of family time and conversations. And Justin's Grandma made Justin his favorite Pickled Green Beans and me her homemade pickles. We could not ask for better gifts from her and are reminded that we really need to schedule a pickling day so we can learn her techniques and carry on this tradition throughout the generations.

The only thing that could have made the day better is if our oldest nephew Keith had joined us. We are not really sure why, but he did not make it down and we were really sad about it. Hopefully next year we will be back to normal.