A great day

[Goodwatch]

Guys, I had a terrific Christmas day yesterday, with great fun. We usually gather at one of Anne’s sister's or have the event at our place. We do it in turn. It also involves drawing names for the presents. The children are always provided for by the whole family, this concerns the adults only. The maximum amount to spend is $25. You are allowed to give your spouse his or her own present but that doesn’t count. You are also allowed to give an extra but small present. We draw the names on December 1, to have ample time to find a present.

But the fun part is in handing out the presents itself as some of them are either bogus or tricked. Anne received a large, beautiful wrapped present and anxiously tore the paper away. It was the kitchen stuff she had lent out to her sisters this year. A bogus present and we all laughed. Then one of my brothers in law received a large box. It had bogus all over it but contained a real present inside with a small note on it. The note instructed him to give it to the rightful recipient! Double barrel bogus, you should have seen his face! Anne struck back at all the ladies present. She had made a large roll of glossy magazines with a ribbon tied around them for each of the ladies. But the glossies turned out to be the free stuff you can find in shopping malls and super markets. Revenge! I escaped this year, phew!

We had a great time and ate from all the dishes Anne and her sisters had prepared. And there were a couple of nice bottles of The Famous Grouse Port Wood Finish, Port and Jack D. The Famous Grouse was very smooth and very tasty.

[dina]

Cool. Glad to hear you had a good time I like the idea with the gifts sounds like lots of fun.

[JJ Irani]

Good one, Frans....glad you enjoy your family as much as I do!!

[padi56]

Glad you enjoyed yourself Frans thats whats Christmas is all about.

[mailman]

Sounds like you guys had a real good time Frans. Glad to hear it.

[Rockrolex]

Sounds like a great time was had by all, Frans. And that to me is the real spirit of the holidays.

As long as we're on the subject, we, too, had a good time, although it was a real adventure. Our goal was to fly up to New York to spend the day with my son's in-laws. They throw a big Christmas party every year, despite the fact that the only Christians who are at the party are my daughter-in-law's father and grandmother. Everyone else is Jewish. Anyway, we were supposed to take a 9:30 AM flight, but because of bad weather in New York, we were delayed on the ground for 3 hours. We didn't take off until 12:30 PM and arrived in New York at 2:00 PM. Then the drive to their house is about 25 miles on the Long Island Expressway, also known as the world's longest parking lot - in a driving rain. When we finally arrived an hour later, they met me outside with a large glass of single malt. That's when the day started to brighten.

After that, the party was wonderful, with lots of family and friends, also with small gift exchanges, plenty of drink and good food.

Then back to the airport for the return flight that was delayed again by almost 2 1/2 hours. So after getting up at 5:00 AM, we finally managed to get back into bed at 2:30 AM.

But you know what? It was worth it, to be able to spend a day with good people, family and friends.

I hope everyone had good times this holiday and will have good memories to take away.

[Earl]

Frans and Ed Thank you for sharing your day with us.... :o) always nice to hear the success stories !!!!

[BruceS]

Nice stories guys