Christmas Evening

This evening we went over to friends Sean and Mary's house. They'd lost power earlier in the day but it had been restored by the time we got there (with of course no clue as to why it had gone out in the first place ... thanks, OG&E ... I thought monopolies were illegal? Oh well), so the lights were bright and the fellowship was warm (although that would have been so even if the power hadn't come back on).

Mark's gift from Sean and Mary was a lovely big bottle of vodka, which he cracked open straightaway to enjoy (mine is a huge bottle of Chambord, which is really nice when mixed with a sweet white wine - think Riesling - and consumed very quickly, resulting in a total inability to do anything requiring sobriety in about half the time of normal drinks).

Here is Sean, always a gracious host, and especially festive today ... the sequins give him a really delightful Graham Norton look that is sure to be the envy of at least two nations once this gets posted ...

Mary is Sean's lovely wife (and the origin of the yummy sausage roll recipe). She had surgery on her hand last week, poor lamb, but is recuperating well in very stylish jammies!

This is Wilfried. He's not really cross-eyed, but he *is* French ... 'nuff said. (Je sais, je sais, ferme ta bouche! Quelle surprise ... quelle dommage! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)
Elder daughter was counting the hours left until midnight and her birthday, but seemed to have a nice time too, especially since her boots made her taller than me.

Here are Emma, Kieran, and Kendall, who are not far apart in age and always enjoy hanging out together. (Notice the girls have matching smiles!)

This is Cole, who turned 3 last month. He is a man of few words, but he and Kieran had fun playing Don't Break The Ice and making (and destroying) different sorts of towers with the Jenga blocks.

This is Cole's mum, Jeannie, who works with Sean and Mary at the OMRF. She allegedly gives really good foot rubs!

After the visit, we drove around for a while looking at (the utter lack of) Christmas lights on houses on the way home. It was after 10:00, so maybe folks had them turned off, but wouldn't you think that Christmas would be THE DAY to have Christmas lights on?

As I finish writing this, I'm yawning my head off and (almost) regretting that last glass of wine. Goodnight ... hope your Christmas was wonderful!