PA 2: Berry Christmas

I don't know why this is a difficult post for me to write!  I am SO grateful we had this day with our Berry family all together.  "All 42 Berry's."  That's what Gram & Pap kept saying.  They were so proud to have us all together.


So awesome to have William home!


William & Jeff.


Matt talking to Uncle Bill.


Before the meal, Pap addressed the whole family.  I taped it.  During his talk he spoke about God's goodness to our family.  And that we had not suffered any...he corrected to "many"...losses.  My cousin Jen's father of two of her children, died in a tragic car accident earlier in 2015.  He talked about his sickness in 2013 and how God spared him.  Then he read the account of the birth of Jesus in the Bible.


Just chatting after our huge meal!  Grandma cooked for everyone...with the help of Jen and Aunt Deb.  We had Pap's favorite as always...yummy roast beef!




Sweet Stella.  My cousin Whitney's little girl.


Matt helping me check lighting.


Alexia.


Easton


Uncle John's brood!


My cousin Johnny's family.


My cousin Jeff's family.  It's now March 17th, 2016 and I found out last night from Jessica (Jeff's wife) that Jeff had a chainsaw accident yesterday where it took a huge bite out of his leg!  Way too close for comfort to the femoral artery.  God spared him.  I am so grateful.  I don't think I could have handled another funeral at home.  Jeff is such a great guy!  He's an amazingly hard worker.  Jessica is so relieved and grateful.


Whit's family!






Josi didn't want to be in the grandkid photo :)


Luke and Jessica.  To be married in September!




Uncle Bill's family.


William & Amber.  Amber's a sweetheart.  She fits in our family very well!


Uncle Bill & Aunt Sandy.


Aunt Deb's family.




Jen & Annette's kiddos.  Three each!


Sweet Vivi.  She lost her daddy on March 21st...earlier this year.


Lexi & Haley


Melhorns!  And Wittleders :)


Grandkids with the Grandparents.


Family I love so much!  That girl right there...she points me to Jesus.  David chose well :)


And us.


My wonderful grandparents.  I remember feeling bad for having Gram walk out so far from the house.  Her legs seemed to be bothering her.  They were giving out that day.  I had no idea these would be the last photos I'd take of them.  I've taken so many over the years!


Love them so much.  They were more than I could ask for in grandparents.


Oh Princess!


Aunt Deb :)


Pap & Gram and their unruly bunch!




My man with our littlest!


Colin and Ethan playing football.


Easton & Jaxon in their matching Carharts!


Nathan and Cam on the porch swing.


Aunt Deb holding Josh.


Uncle John giving the kids rides on his new Gator!


How cool is that?  Our boys loved it.




William brought a gun home with him


The great grandkids playing Crokinole with Johnny's guidance :)




Playing Crokinole with Grandma, Jessica and Amber.  Amber and I dominated. :)  Not that it mattered.  I remember consciously trying to enjoy my time at this Christmas and not feel the need to be taking photos the whole time.  I'm so glad I did!  Playing Crokinole with Grandma is a cherished memory.




Aunt Sandy and Luke.


I'm glad Matt took these photos though.  I found more on his phone too.


Watching the Eagles/Patriots game in the basement.




William and David!


This was hilarious.  Nathan took off of my mom's nice, cute plates and laid them all over the stairs.   Of course now, they couldn't be used...just played with!




Poor Princess!  Nathan loved carrying her.


I had a horrible time with lighting and my auto focus, but I tried to get a few pictures of Pap & William.  I didn't get one of all four grandsons because I was trying to enjoy my time with family!


William, Pap & Uncle Bill.


William hugging mom goodbye.


An attempt of a grandaughter photo with the ones that were left!  Silly Age!




Jeff had left.  So I took the three.




William & Gram.


Best smile of the night for Gram! :)


Cherished memories. That really wasn't so bad to write this post. I love this last picture of her!

PA 1- Colin & Christmas Tree

Wow.  I have really been putting off posting about our PA trip in early December!  For one, it's a lot of photos and a lot of work.  But also, it's difficult doing these posts as we had no idea Grandma Berry was sick when we were home.  It was like any other trip home.  And yet, that was part of the beauty of this trip.  And also God's unbelievable grace in making this trip happen.  He led our hearts to come home by way of circumstances and gentle guiding as we sought His will.  I am forever grateful for this last trip to Pennsylvania, with no idea what lie ahead.

We got in EARLY our first morning in Baltimore, so we were really tired!  We were thrilled to be picked up by mom & dad at the Baltimore airport and got a little rest in the car ride home.  I'm not sure I had more than an hour or two of sleep in Colorado Springs!  I think we had to leave our house around 2am.  We also got stop and eat at Chic-fil-a on our way to home from the airport with mom and dad!  Which was just fun! We rolled into my hometown around the time Colin gets off school, so we parked at David & Age's house and Dad, me and the boys jumped out to run down to his school.  The smart ones, mom and Matt, stayed in the car!  It was cold and windy!

We waited a long time for him and looked and looked!  We even chased after a kid we thought for sure was Colin!  Oops!




Finally, we see a kid on the bike that we think could be Colin and he's already way up the hill to his house.  So we go back up by his house...and sure enough.  Here he is!


With glasses!  Colin got glasses!


The next day we went to a tree farm to get a Christmas tree in Dad's truck.


This was really fun for the boys :)




Found our Frasier Fur!


Preparing our tree for us.




Loading them up!






So fun!




Then we stopped at Hilsher's General Store.   And my husband wanted to move to PA! ha ha. It's a huge store with pretty much everything.  Including hot food...so we ate there!


The men bringing the tree in!


Deciding on placement this year.


It went in the other corner this year!


Lights were up to Matt & Dad.  You can't see Matt, I think he's behind the tree.




The next morning we went to watch Colin play basketball!
















Colin usually stays over night at my parents on Friday night.  After his basketball game Saturday, he came back to the house for another sleepover and to play with his cousins.