Christmas Past

And it is just as good in memory as we lived it.

Both couples were here for Christmas Day.

And that was all I needed. No gifts. No special meal. Just the six of us together.

Everything was very low key.

Josh worked on helping us upgrade our tekkie apparatuses.



I put Olivia and Brad to work on their culinary talents. Olivia made guacamole (and it was excellent, even with my limited items.)

Brad, on his own, made breakfast sandwiches for everyone.



Natalie and Ed just enjoyed the fruits of everyone's labor.




The rest of our stay revolved around -

wine and

a iittle...


Brad and Olivia led us in Texas Hold 'Um and Olivia and I SMOKED 'Um! So banking on this new found talent of mine we went to the Jumer's Casino in Illinois.

I managed to lose $5 and occupy 30 minutes of my time at Video Poker.

Josh and I went to watch Natalie play a Wizard of Oz game and Josh kept urging her to cash out and move one, but she persisted and won $250! (It took the people on both sides of her to tell her she was a winner of more than $20.) The Bodnar Gamblers are a swift bunch!

Then due to inclement conditions outside, we decided to walk Bailey on my treadmill. He comes to stay with me in January and as is visible, he's going to need some training!




So Christmas was just another normal day with family all around doing every day things and it couldn't have been more special.