Christmas Eve Night.

 We enjoyed the work of our labor and had a Tamale dinner, it was delicious .

 We all dressed up to go to church and so enjoyed a fancy dinner.

 The Vinecki Clan!!!!! Lucas(19) Maria(17)Me(15) Julia(13) Alex(11)Nick(10)Tony(6) Bella(4).

 Our wonderful, awesome and amazing parents.

  Nick and I as we finished our advent tree.

Sweet little Bella, we were all excited for Christmas day especially the little kids.

Christmas Week.

 We spent two days before Christmas with Dad's family. They have an adorable cat named Shadow, and Bella fell completely in love!

 We did a "white elephant" with them this year, Tony won this fuzzy Santa blanket.

Bella opened this pretty pink scarf.

 Mom made tamales this year, so we put them together Christmas Eve.

 Mmmmmmmmmm........

 We made a lot of yummy goodies for Christmas day to enjoy. Lucas made eggnog. If you've never tasted homemade eggnog you are missing out on something delicious. It's much better than the store version.

Our Christmas breakfast theme was Mexican, I made these Concha rolls which are a Mexican sweet bread with a flour frosting on the top.  

 Maria and Lucy loving on each other.

The kids spent their time outside sledding and skiing. They are all glad we have 15 inches of snow.

Random Pictures from our week.

 We were playing outside and decided to bring out the ATV (since we don't have a lot of snow). Well Maria came up with the idea to use it like a snowmobile, and pull a sled behind it!

 As you can see from this picture that it was a success, and we had lots of fun!!!!!

 Nick being goofy at the camera.

 Sweet little Bella.

 Mom made Julia and Bella matching aprons for Christmas.

 They look so cute in them, especially with the kitty cat print(they both love cats!)

 This afternoon we went outside in the cold and played. Tony found the Indiana Jones whip that we have and found fun in harassing Nick and Alex like he was going to whip them, oh the things that little boys find pleasure in!

 Here stands the little whipper snapper!!!Like his beard?Tony had Alex paint that on him so that he and Alex could be buddies.

I found this in one the pots on our girl's stove in the playhouse. Isn't it beautiful!!!

Julia and Lucy as we came home from church.

And back to the ATV ride!! We are expecting 10 inches of snow tomorrow, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Signing out: Olivia.

Christmas Trees and Playing Music.

 Dad and Mom took the younger kids to get the Christmas tree this year. They picked out a blue spruce which is really poky but smells nice.

 They had fun hiding around in the grove of trees.

 Alex stands proud with the Christmas tree.

Mighty little people!!!!

So it has been time for our annual Christmas performances at local assisted livings.We recently played for one that was having their Christmas party.

 We had fun, everyone especially loved Lucas's impersonation of Elvis's Blue Christmas

The owners let us eat with them after we played. They had lot's of yummy food including shrimp and cheese ball. We have had quite a few engagements but as Christmas draws near we are coming to a close. 

Signing off: Olivia

The Journey.

 Mom and Dad took us kids to an outdoor journey of the birth of Christ at a church. We got there a little too early so we went and walked around the Grand Traverse Resort.

 They had beautiful trees all decorated for Christmas.

 The little kids saw the glass elevator there and wanted a ride so Dad took all of us kids up to the highest floor(17th) and back down, whereas all of our legs felt like jello!

 At the church we had to wait before we got on the wagon ride. They provided hot chocolate and cookies which were yummy!

 Everyone was split up into the 12 tribes of Israel. We were in the tribe of Levi, the priesthood. Bella, Mom, Dad, and Tony while waiting.

The night was chilly but we all bundled up warmly.

These trees were inside the church where our Journey began. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the birth of Christ come to life, the real reason for Christmas.

FUN times visiting with friends and family

 So the day after Thanksgiving we all trooped down to Detorit to visit family in from PA, and also Maryann and Big Daddy's family. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone and enjoyed hanging out and partying! Maryann has a ping-pong table in her basement and that was one of the things we kids enjoyed doing.

 Of course there were lots of little kid toys, Bella and Alaina played house together.

 We had lots of musicians gathered so of course music was continuously played.

 Uncle Hank and Lucas smiling BIG.

Bella and I playing ping pong.

Maria, Samara, and Julia.

We call Bella MaryAnn's shadow because she hangs with MaryAnn every minute of the day.

Three lovely little ladies Alaina, Bella and Jane.

Boys will be boys. A lot of wrestling going on......

Aunt Jodi, Mom and Katie talking while watching all the kids play.

Julia, Joseph, Cole and Maria play a couple hands of card games.

It snowed in the morning so some of kids went outside to sled and throw snowballs.

Joseph, Uncle Hank, Alaina, Mom and Julia having a family moment.

Lucas playing John a game of ping pong. Thank you MaryAnn and Big Daddy for your hospitality, good food and good times. We love you.