This year we partook in the gift exchanges for each of our families. Actually, Sherri's family is much easier to deal with than either the Martin (Casper), or Dutcher (Salt Lake), families. They are on a rotation schedule so we always know which family is up for us that year. This year we had the Chris Turek Family. Chris, Laura, Chaura, Rachel, and Stewart. In that order. We had a great time trying to decipher the wants of two girls and a 7 year old. But, I feel that we got it done. We all seemed to have a great time and the kids loved their gifts.
On the other side of the family, it was much more difficult. The families draw names shortly after thanksgiving. On the Martin side, we drew my brother Niccolos, and his fiance Katie. She has three kids that we just found out about right before Christmas. I guess they love my dad and call my parents Grandma and Grandpa. That makes me happy. They were fairly easy to get a gift for.
On the Dutcher side, they also draw names after Thanksgiving, however they draw for individual names. This year, my brother Nathon drew me, and His wife Jessica drew Sherri. Weird because we had some combination of the same names last year. We would prefer to draw families, but, whined to no avail. So I drew my sister-in-law, Michelle and Sherri drew my sister Teri. Confused yet. Again, they were fun and easy to gift for. We had a good time.
Here is a breakdown of our family:
Original Martin Family: (Jay and Barbara)
Teri, Jason, Nathon, Christopher
Teri is not married. Jason is married to Sherri (Turek) and are expecting their first baby together. LilyAnn and Colby are from my first marriage. Nathon is married to Jessica (Holme) and they have two boys, Izack and Trevor. Christopher is married to Michelle (?) and they have two girls, Sydney and Merlot.
2ND Martin Family: (Jay and Lynn)
Teri, Jason, Nathon, Christopher, Heidi (Smith), Heather (Smith), Sean (Smith), Brianna, Niccolos, Patrick.
Heidi is married to Ron Maxwell (sp) and have an boy named Chandler. Heather is married to Kurt Edwards and have Taylor and Libby. Sean is Married to Heather (?) and have Cameron, Gabriel, and Liam. They have the most kids of us all.. We are two months from catching them.
Dutcher Family: (Bert and Barbara)
All of the Above, Plus my Brother Brian. We love you Brian!! Brian is married to Nichole (?). She is the sweetest person ever! We love you too Kolie.
Turek Family: (Ed and Lola)
Gary, Mike, Chris, Sherri.
Gary is married to Joanne. They have Kira, Matthew, and Jessica. Matthew is married to Vanessa. Mike is married to Kelley. They have Erin, Ryan, Patrick, Kevin, and Robert (Robby). Erin is married to Jared Richards. They have two kids, Sophie and Brett. Chris is married to Laura and they have three kids. Chaura, Rachel, and Stewart.
Any questions?
Here are a couple of Christmas Pictures. The first is my dog, Peludo (Pepe). He is a 10 year old Pomeranian and since he is black he does not photograph well. In this particular picture I am glad his eyes are flashing or he may look like part of the trunk. Pepe has been my friend and companion for 10 years now. He has saved my life on two occasions. Those are stories for another time.
The Next is a picture of Home. We have not been to Casper since the summer of 2005. My brother Patrick sent this picture to my phone on Christmas Morning. BRRRRRR!!!! Looks really COLD! I miss the snow.
