It was a Merry Christmas!

It was a special treat to have everyone home for Christmas, to spend time together and to celebrate with our traditional Ames Brunch and Woodruff Christmas Eve festivities. We started with brunch and gifts at Laurie and Bob's new house in Riverchase. They have a fantastic new house with great decks overlooking a wooded lot.







We briefly regrouped after brunch and moved on to our next destination, which, of course, included more eating and more gifts.










Santa came during the wee hours bearing lots and lots of gifts for all. Hayes loved all his surprises.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end. Audra, Joey, and Hayes left last night. Beth, Billy, and Gus left his morning. Jackson's here for a few more days, then he reports back for practice then the start of the spring semester.

It has been a wonderful few days with all our family here. These days are precious but few and far between. We are so fortunate that everyone enjoys each other's company.

But, now, even Barkley's playmate, Gus, has gone back to Texas, and she's left with boring ol' Wayne and Libba. Ho-hum. It was fun while it lasted...