Christmas Day at the Moyle's

One of the great things about the Christmas Day gathering at the Moyles has been the presence of all nine grandchildren. This year three of them got away before we got the group picture done, so those three are in the insets taken earlier in our celebration. Back row: Elyse Nave, Ashleigh Nave, Lindsey Moyle. Front row: Jonathan Ringo, Bethany Moyle, Jessica Ringo. Left inset: Jordan Nave. Right inset: Josiah Wells, Caleb Wells. This picture was taken in the early evening with other group pictures..

Most of us gathered by about noon at the Moyle house for a nice brunch. Traditional has been a sausage casserole, and this year there was a fine ham and cheese roll. We just relaxed about the house for a while.

Brenda and Judy got to visit some during this time.

Christmas day was beautiful and sunny with a beautiful blue sky. It was warm enough for us to get outside without jackets later in the day.

As more of the family arrived we built quite a collection of cars.

A little after 1pm we gathered by the fireplace and Christmas tree to start the gift exchange.

Soon the floor was covered with wrapping paper and boxes, and smiles all around. Ashleigh, Jeff and Darla, and Robbie and Diane staked out the left couch.

Brenda and Judy had their places for observation, and Leslie helped with gift distribution.

Brenda and then Leslie and Jeff complete the circle back to the Christmas tree.

Josiah and Caleb make short work of the wrapping on these presents.

Caleb gets a basketball and passes to Lindsey.

A very nice family time of exchanging gifts from the Christmas tree.

Josiah and Caleb are enjoying their gifts over by the Christmas tree.

And it looked like Robbie and Diane were enjoying them just as much from the other side of the room.

The Ringos arrive and Jonathan and Jessica join the party, completing the nine grandchildren.

The Ringo arrival starts a new round of gifts. In the photo above are all nine grandchildren. Starting at left after Jeff Nave are (1)Jonathan Ringo, (2)Caleb Wells, (3)Elyse Nave, (4)Ashleigh Nave, (5)Jessica Ringo, (6)Lindsey Moyle, (7)Bethany Moyle, (8)Jordan Nave, and (9)Josiah Wells.

We transition to stocking time, and the stockings always contain fruit. And the fruit always generates fruit juggling competition.

Jonathan seems to be the champ at rolling the fruit down his arm and popping it up into the air.

Elyse maintains control of her fruit, but just barely!

After the gift giving, we had a wonderful Christmas dinner and very much enjoyed the fellowship around the table. Afterward, Jeff took his new four-propeller drone outside to play around with it and collected quite a crowd.

Everyone enjoyed the play with flying the drone, and it was a good time for just visiting in the yard on this beautiful day.

Next, Caleb brought out their new airsoft guns which shoot little plastic balls at high speed. So a target practice session was on.

Again, we quickly gathered a crowd, some for shooting and others for just conversation and fellowship.

You get the idea that this family can have fun together doing just about anything.

It was nice to get a picture of Leslie, Lindsey, Bethany and Jeff Moyle. They likewise have two grown-up young ladies.

Around 7:30 the family settled down to another long-term Christmas day tradition - game time! The family has quite a repertoire of table games and always enjoy this time of fellowship.