Gatherings, lots of Christmas gatherings. But, I grew up going to lots of Christmas gatherings and I enjoy them. It's a blessing to have family close enough (and the rest willing to travel) so we can see each other at least once a year.
It was a privilege to host Ben's parents in our "new" place for a few days. You never know how it will go to host folks in a new space, but it was great and they said they slept well upstairs in this old house.
The Schrag family gathered in Peck at the Tahitian Room (aka, Susan and Cully's place). The Tahitian Room is full of quirky, glorious, random and historic bits and pieces collected over many years. While I don't recall a Schrag gathering where the bar was put to it's intended use (consuming alcohol), we do use it as our buffet table. It's odd to have all the kids saddle up to the bar and nibble on peppernuts but it certainly works. They don't know what they're looking at and think all the bottles and lights are wonderful.
Levi tried playing Hi-Ho Cherry-O on his own, hopefully he didn't lose too many cherries.
Poppy Seed Roll, a Schrag favorite.
The second cousins did a great job playing together. Gabe and Bethany played so well with Noah and Levi. Little Henry was a joy too, but still too little for marbles and hide and seek, maybe next year Henry!
Susan and Brittany managed to successfully roast coffee beans in an air pop popcorn popper! You never know what'll happen next at the Tahitian Room.
The boys felt pretty comfortable at Susan and Cully's barn (the Tahitian Room is inside the barn that they live in), but they wanted me to accompany them to the bathroom. We had fun counting the 9 different toilet paper holders and this tag hung from the ceiling fan. Like I said, the place is full (and not in a bad way) of all sorts of interesting stuff.
Noah said he ate 400 peppernuts that day and he very well may have been correct!
During the day on the 27th, the boys and I were with the Hertzler family. For some reason, I didn't snap a single picture during that time....but we ate wonderful soup and sandwiches, put together a booger of a puzzle, and had a good time hanging out together. That evening, Ben went to the Hertzler's and the boys and I went to our Schmidt gathering. The boys got to spend more time playing with second cousins and had a blast.
Sam is a year younger than Noah and a year older than Levi, so you can imagine that the three of them can have a rip-roaring good time.
See what I mean about those old "cowboy jeans" that Levi simply will not quit wearing?
We were a group of 22 or so and had a great time eating and catching up with one another. Almost all of us still live in the Goessel area, but sadly we don't see each other all that often.
We also got to watch a video about the first shipment of aid that went to Vietnam following the war. My grandpa, Harvey Schmidt was heavily involved with CROP in McPherson County at the time and volunteered to give some of his wheat to this shipment going to Vietnam. Church World Service organized the cargo shipment of wheat to help feed the Vietnamese people. Church World Service recognized the fact that during the war most of the farmland had been destroyed and the ability of the Vietnamese people to grow enough food for themselves had been greatly diminished. So, in this video we got to watch grandpa harvest wheat, speak during the sending service in Houston, TX and then check the wheat when it arrived in Vietnam. Many times I've heard mention of grandpa's trip to Vietnam, but it never made much sense until now. It was such a blessing to see and hear grandpa's voice again.
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