This past weekend goes down as one of the merriest we've seen in a long time.  The holiday fun flowed like a Christmas garland from beginning to end. 

Naked Gingerbead Men
On Saturday, John, Annie, Violet, Dad and I went to the Family Center at Epiphany to meet members of the Ladies Club who had volunteered to bake gingerbread men for the Children's Christmas Breakfast.  Any meeting with these women is bound to be fun.  They're genuinely caring people, who know how to have a good time--and how to turn out a serious batch of baked goods. 

We started at 1 o'clock and by 2:20 had baked enough "naked" gingerbread men to feed three masses' worth of hungry kids.  Annie was thrilled to find that Claudia Addison-Smith had brought some of her children, nieces and nephew to help.  They worked at a table with cheer and diliegence, proudly racing their stamped cookies over to the baking sheets, then racing back to make more.  And don't think Violet didn't contribute.  She marched around in Daddy's arms, carefully considering the ceiling tiles to ensure they met design and safety standards.

KC Christmas Dinner
The fun continued that evening at the Knights of Columbus annual Christmas Dinner. Needless to say, the KCs and their wives represent another incredibly fun, and incredibly kind group of people.  We mingled, then ate a delicious serving of rigatoni and meatballs prepared by Rudy Reyes.  And the celebration was topped by a rousing round of White Elephant.  I confess to envying the wins of some of my counterparts (a statue of the Holy Family and a gift card to Target), but was happy to quickly take my seat after drawing a basket of "Sensual Amber" body lotions (which we will probably have to re-gift, unless Anna and Violet are seeking another sibling). Thanks, "M," for watching the girls so John and Dad and I could enjoy this evening.

Chrildren's Christmas Breakfast
On Sunday, John and Dad again met at the Family Center to begin cooking the annual Children's Christmas breakfast.  They stayed until 1 pm, cooking, serving, and washing dishes.  What a pair of troopers.  Annie, Violet and I showed up to lend moral support to the gingerbread cookie effort, which the kids enjoyed immensely, and to visit with our extended church family.  It just so happened that Santa Claus was visiting Epiphany that day, and we got him to take a picture with us (see related article, posted today).

Here Comes Pops!
We returned home to hear that Pops (aka John's dad, Dee) was on his way down from Caldwell for a visit.  He made the trip in no time at all, probably driven by his grandfatherly eagerness to see his new granddaughter for the first time.  The two got along famously.  And Annie tried to teach us all a new way to play dominoes ("it's a tricky game," she warned us, "would you please just practice?").  Later, we hopped over to watch Annie play in the snow at St. Peter's "Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Christmas."  She also visited a live Nativity with Pops.  They both posed for pictures with the surprisingly graceful camel and donkey.  Pops spent the night with us and left Monday morning.  We sure enjoyed the visit, and hope for many more to come.

 What a wonderful weekend.