A big difference this year was that Michael and Karri were in a new home, in a community with canals running between the houses to provide water access to Tampa Bay. Michael and Karri had purchased the home in July, knowing that it was very old and needed major renovations. The work they did was amazing: taking down walls to open up the house, putting in new floor tile throughout, renovating the kitchen counter and cabinets, adding completely new kitchen appliances as well as a new washer and dryer, creating a separate washer dryer room, completely redoing the landscape, removing outdated items such as wall mirrors, and giving the interior and exterior new coats of paint. It was not all work and no play, however. Michael found the time to research and purchase a 27 foot boat and also two jet skis. No, Michael and Karri have not had a lot of time on their new boats, but are looking forward to it beginning this spring.

Michael and Karri again hosted a just wonderful Christmas Day celebration, providing not onlu their home, but also the ham, the sodas and adult beverages, the paper goods and plastic ware, and stocking gifts. They put a lot of effort into making the celebration, food, and fun just great.

Joyce contributed mashed potatoes, a squash casserole, and a broccoli spinach casserole that were all excellent, and she also provided a cheese and sausage tray that included lots of extra delicious goodies. Michelle came with a delicious macaroni and cheese cassarole and some tasty cookies. Tess brought in pies just to make certain there was way too much food - isn’t that a requirement for Christmas dinner?

After dinner we opened gifts and then played a few games including the Deck the Halls singing game, a coloring game, the Pass the Santa Hat game, two versions of a cup stacking team game, and a building blocks team game where the blocks could only be moved and placed using chopsticks. Joyce also provided some very nice prizes for game winners. We concluded with four of the guys playing table hockey with a Blow It Out.