Christmas in two parts – 2nd part

The Friday after Christmas was the gathering of the clan – my family – as the eldest of 8, most of whom have significant others and children, and some who have grandchildren – we total 45 and counting.  Only 25 of us were able to
 make it over to my sister Patsy's home for this particular Christmas celebration.  

The tall guy (5'17" as he says) is my brother Tom, also born on my 14th birthday. I used to call him my twin. As a sophomore in high school, he told his shop teacher about his twin sister. His shop teacher asked what homeroom she was in. Tom replied, "Oh, she graduated a long time ago." That was when he found out I wasn't Really his twin. Back then he thought I had tricked him. Truthfully, I would claim him as my twin to this day. I rely on him to cool my hot head – he always steers a straight ship. With him is his son, Ryan – professional motocross racer and pilot; and Tom's wife of 20+ years, Lori – former business owner, and now a teacher. They make a good team – all of them.

This is Trey, my sister Margaret's son – aka Vanilla Ice – he came all the way from his current home in Alabama to be with us at
Christmas. We don't get to see enough of Trey – maybe we will in the future.  Over to the right is my niece, Amanda, and her fiance, Zack (who makes a really wicked salsa – yummmmm!).  They are getting married this coming summer. We think she looks like a brunette version of Cameron Diaz. She's as pretty on the inside, as she is on the outside.

Amanda's brother, Patrick, is the fireman in the family – another of the world's 'good guys' – he's in the right place at the right time.

This is the story of a young, impressionable Little League Champion being egged on to do 'something different' with his hair. So Troy (my son-in-law) and Amanda (co-conspirators) and Cole all disappeared into the bathroom and reappeared with this new hair-do. Truthfully, Cole decided there wasn't enough blue in his hair, so he sprayed it on Real Good!

So, see? You can come to our family Christmas, get a present, eat till you can't anymore, enjoy the ruckus of many children and the buzz of conversations, AND get a cutting edge, new 'do!'