The After Christmas Blues

On Christmas Eve, Austin and I were crazy enough to go to Wal-mart before our family gathering at Grandma E.'s. While I didn't think Wal-mart was any busier than usual, Austin was quick to disagree. We seemed to get our weekly necessities and escape the crowd in approximately one hour (which is a record for me). After our trip to Wal-mart, we spent the evening at Grandma E.'s visiting with the Smith side of the family. We were few this year but seemed to carry on the tradition of sharing old stories from the past. Christmas morning came. Shortly after crawling out of bed, Austin, Shadow, and I packed up our gifts and headed to Mom and Dad's for our family Christmas with Mom, Dad, Allison, and Miles along with Fred and Zeke. For lunch, Austin and I went to Grandma Yake's for a family dinner and visited there most of the afternoon. After a late afternoon/early evening nap, Mom, Dad, Austin, and I traveled down the street to Mamaw Sandy and Papaw Dick's for a few hands of cards. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we crawled back into bed to end the day. Another Christmas has passed, and "The After Christmas Blues" have settled in. The good thing is New Year's Eve is just around the corner! We wish all of you a Safe and Happy New Year!

The Shafer Christmas

We did it! And, it wasn't so bad. For more than 25 years, the Shafer Family has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Day at lunch time. With our families growing so rapidly, we decided it was time to start a new tradition - having our Christmas Gathering on another day besides Christmas. We gathered at the Parsons' on December 23rd for lunch. Everyone was present and seemed to enjoy the afternoon as a family. After good food and fellowship we took "family photos" which was fun. Here is our immediate family - Me, Mom, Allison, Austin, Dad, and Miles. Shadow is missing, but we'll share his Christmas picture in a few days!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is almost here. We've been hanging around the house all day today, and we thought it may be a good time to experiment with a webpage. In approximatley 3 months, we'll have lots of stories to tell and pictures to share as our new little family member will arrive into the world. In the next few days we'll have some Christmas pictures to share with you!