The entire Leonard clan was together this year for Christmas at Dick and Jill's house in Marietta.
Front row: Leslie Leonard, Chuck Hou, Jaiden Leonard Stafford, Melissa Muñoz, Jim "Pap Pap" Waugaman, Phyllis "Nan Nan" Waugaman, Jerry "Grandpa" Leonard, Diane Leonard, David Leonard
Back row: Richard Leonard, Jill Leonard, Kiki Alliston, Blake Alliston, John Muñoz, Dan Leonard, Hanna Leonard, Beth Leonard, Don Leonard
Dan and Dad drove up from Tallahassee. John, Melissa, and Jaiden flew in from Chicago. It was a night to celebrate!
The coffee table was the base for the evening's jigsaw puzzle. I'm sure that Beth and Leslie had it all sorted out by the end of the night.
The big news of the day (at least for me) was that Melissa and John are expecting a child. They first broke the news at Thanksgiving. Boy, can this family keep a secret! Seriously, congratulations to you two! We can't wait to be a great uncle and aunt again!
Also big news of the day - Dick and Jill have torn down the small one-car garage and are constructing a new two-car garage. This is the future site, albeit after a week of rain and an unforeseen issue. When the crew dug the trench, a supporting brick wall simply fell over. It apparently wasn't supporting anything!
Dick shows Don the blueprint for the garage construction. Ideally there would be a courtyard, but the county easement requirements nixed that idea. Still, it will certainly be a handsome addition to the house with completion expected within 3-6 months.
After we took pictures we all headed out to Chicken And The Egg for dinner. They had a delicious something for everyone!
I saw Dan (seated at one end of the long table) taking a picture of Jaiden (seated at the other end) with his iPhone all zoomed in. I thought I'd try doing the same with my Canon camera (32x analog zoom) with no flash. The original is pretty horrible, but with a few filter tweaks, looky there! We have a brooding film star in our midst.
And now it's just the die hard gamers playing the really fun, really stupid stuff! This year was the Saran Wrap Ball Christmas game. Small gifts are wrapped in plastic wrap with the best gift all the way on the inside. Players must unwrap the ball using oven mitts. One player tries to unwrap the ball while the following player rolls a pair of dice. When doubles are rolled, play moves on to the next players. Click the picture for a little game action.
Here is our rather serious side, seriously wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2019!
On Christmas Day THIS happened! It's official - Leslie and Chuck are engaged! Best Christmas ever..