Second Annual Group Christmas Party

Christmas of 2005 a group of us started a tradition. We are a group of eight couples that are all mutual friends. We come together initially because of two things: Friends since high school and/or co-workers at a little place called CashWise - a huge grocery store in our town. Most everyone in the group has worked or still works at Cash Wise. A few of us (including me) even met our spouses while working there. Thank goodness the Cash Wise lifers can at least say they are members of the management team! Anyway, we realized a year ago that all of us are now married, so there will really be no other opportunities just made for us that will bring us all together, we will now have to create those events ourselves. So we came up with our annual Christmas Party. Everyone brings a food to share and we pig out and have fun catching up and talking about our kids and things going on in our lives. We have such a great time. The chemistry of this group of people is so great and I am so honored to be a part of it. It almost feels like we are a member of a club or a secret society. We really don't know when our group "began" so to say and we will work very hard to make sure it doesn't end. There will also be no additions to our group. Member can't leave (and don't want to leave) and we don't let outsiders in. We talked about doing a summer picnic or camping trip as well since the Christmas parties are so fun!

White Elephant

Both years that we have had our group Christmas party we have exchanged white elephant gifts. We try to think of the most hideous and hilarious thing to give. By the time we are done exchanging gifts, most people have sore sides from laughing so hard!

A little Poo

After last years White Elephant gift exchange I had a whole year to come up with something with a little shock factor. Mia's daycare provider gave me the idea of using cinnamon craft dough to make a piece of poop. So a week before the party I mixed up this dough using cinnamon, apple sauce and glue. After I was done "constructing" Kent and I thought it was missing something so we put a couple pieces of corn in it and it was a masterpiece! Joanne was the lucky one that got to open it and she was such a great sport! Everyone got a good laugh out of it.

Sexy Stu

Stu got this beautiful sweater embroidered with a humming bird from Michelle. No matter how girly the sweater looks, Stu could make ANYTHING look manly...may this be a lesson to everyone: Be careful what you do at parties, you might end up on the internet...

New Years Eve

New Years Eve we left my parents in the afternoon and drove home. We had malts and all kinds of yummy snacks (that is why Mia is wearing nothing but a diaper and is sitting on a towel) and we watched the Ball drop in NY City on TV then we watched a movie. Not too exciting.

Simenson Family Christmas

The Weekend after Christmas we went and had Christmas with my family. Isabelle was outside the whole weekend sledding. Mia wore grandpa's hunting hat to fit in to the country scene and she got to even help him blow snow with the tractor. The car in the picture was a gift from my dad to Kent. When they were out pheasant hunting this past fall, they came upon a junk yard by the old coal mine. Miners used to live nearby and this was an old toy that was left behind. When Kent and dad found the car, it was squashed and rusty. My dad, who restores full sized cars for a hobby, decided to fix the toy car up for Kent. It turned out awesome and it was one of Kent's favorite Christmas gifts.

Severson Family Christmas

For Christmas we went up to Kent's parent's house and spend the weekend there. The kids had a great time playing outside in the snow. Kent and Heidi had a little cook-off. Kent made his Dutch Bitterballen and Heidi made her Spring rolls. It was really hard to pick a winner since they both were so good, so I think we will have to have another cook-off next year just to be sure! Note the cute apron Kent is wearing. It even had a "K" on the big heart for Kent!