Merry Christmas

Why, yes, now that you ask, it has been a few days since I last visited the blogosphere. Through one circumstance or another, I've found myself not keeping track of the little anecdotes that have been happening around me, and have thus had not much to report. I have been assured, however, that there are actually people (who never leave comments I might add) who do occasionally peruse my little musings, and who would like me to keep them informed in a more timely manner of the things that are going on in my little corner of Chicagoland.

The most recent event, of course, was the annual Van Kosky Chirstmas. Mom, Sister-In-Law, and I rotate houses and this year we found 8 extra people sleeping in our house.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, mostly because I like to be surrounded by family that I don't get to see very often. This year all of the travelers chose to drive into town on the snowiest day we have had yet. The Marquette to Chicago trip, which usually takes 8 hours maximum, took Mom & Dad 13 hours. The Detroit to Chicago route was a little faster, with average speeds of 50 miles per hour. Both groups reported a lot of cars spun out and in the ditch. The Detroit contingent reported that the majority of the vehicles that were off of the road were pickup trucks or 4 wheel drive vehicles. We imagined that the internal dialogue in the driver's head went something like, "I can go faster than the rest of these guys, I'VE got 4 wheel drive!"

Christmas morning started at 7:00, which for our family is a bit of a late start. The children dug into a huge mound of presents which they doled out to the rightful recipients. We then took turns opening one at a time, from youngest to oldest. We finally opened the last one at 10:00.

The traditional Christmas dinner for us is roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. As of 11:00 in the morning, that and some form of shrimp was all I had planned for dinner. By the time we actually sat down to eat there was so much food it wouldn't all fit on the table. We need to have a fairly wide variety because: 1. Niece and Nephew are both alergic to dairy, so no milk, butter, cream, etc. for them. 2. Nephew is alergic to peanuts. 3. Sister-In-Law doesn't like most forms of meat. So the person doing the cooking is actually making several meals all at once. I may prove myself to be a geek, but for me it requires charts and lists to make it all come together at the right time. Well, to be perfectly honest it was about 1.5 hours late to the table because I miscalculated how long it would take to cook the roast. All in all, it was a very successful Christmas.

My gift from Neice was a kit for making a bath mit. In between cooking tasks I managed to had enough time to get it whipped up and ready to go.

(Blurry because I had to turn the flash off in order to make the leaf show up.)

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas as well!