Ganson Family Scrapbook: December 2021

December! In mixed up order, once again...

Ben took off the last week of the year. This called for breakfast at Cracker Barrel one day. :) I don't know if we go there because of the pancakes or because of all the funny stuff in their store...

Before....

After...

Since we were on break from CC, we did a "field trip" day to the Zoo. Caleb made his own GIF from this picture...

Abby was so embarrassed I took pictures of this baboon... :)

Yuck!

This mama koala was actually snuggling her baby as they slept...

This ostrich was hilarious. She would come up to the fence and look at us, then turn and walk away. At the same spot everytime, she would look behind her, see us, and act surprised like we were there, as though she had totally lost all memory of us. So she would hurry back to the fence and repeat the process over and over..... (video is further down)

I think this Dad really felt this meme...

We kept the Bucher kids one weekend while Karl and Lindsey went away for their anniversary. It was the same weekend as Christmasville and the weather was beautiful, so it was really great! (More Christmasville pictures further down...)

Teen group...

Ben enjoying the photo settings on his new phone...

Side note... Caleb's voice dropped a few octaves in December! 😆

I turned 40!!! Ben took me to Charleston for a couple nights to celebrate! It was wonderful! We left after church on Sunday and walked through old Charleston to a seafood restaurant for dinner. On Monday (my birthday), we explored the market and took a historic carriage tour. On Tuesday, we did a quick tour of the Boone Hall Plantation and then swung by the beach for a late lunch. Unfortunately, a very cold, windy mist set in at the beach, so we just ate and left to head home to the kids (who had stayed with Wes and Joyce.)

The market (used to be a slave market)...

The guide said the black "circles" on this house (like on so many other houses too) are part of "earthquake bolts." After the huge earthquake in 1886, homes which were rebuilt or repaired were stabilized with these huge iron rods secured on the outside walls by "gib plates."

Walking through the park at dusk... We are not great at taking selfies! :)

(More Charleston pictures below... these are out of order.)

Abby loves the Zieber's dog, Bailey:

Christmas morning!! (More Christmas pictures below)

I laughed way too hard at this joke....

Some of our church did Operation Christmas Child! It was super fun!

Some ladies from our church went to an interactive "mystery" dinner at Narroway one evening. I had to read a part, and at the end of the evening, Patty Thompson was the "winner" who got to kiss the pig (but declined.) :)

Boone Plantation....

Turtles (and an alligator)

We took a tour of the house but weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

Jeni's ice cream right by our hotel!!

Who is this poor lost kid waiting for the bus to come? 😆

We walked around for a while on Monday and peeked into gated back yards. :)

Weird "naked man" statue "To The Confederate Defenders at Charleston. Fort Sumter." Hmm.

Where's Ben?

Rainbow Row...

Battery Park...

We ate at a restaurant that used to be a church. Now it's an Asian-American restaurant, and the ceiling is covered entirely with all the words from "The Art of War."

The guide said that the balcony was built onto this house (I think in the 1800s) so the owners could host ice cream parties for the local orphanage kids.

Ben was thrilled about all the tours. 😆 (Actually, he was totally fine with it... after all, it was my birthday!)

Showing off Christmas presents...

Caleb so happy to get a SIM card for his phone. 😆

How Micah felt about the fact that we gave Caleb a machete and a harmonica for Christmas. 😆

Micah's reactions to Caleb's gifts were the best. (Micah, by the way, was super hard to get gifts for... he mostly got lots of gift card to use for being social with his friends.)

Cute "blue light" glasses

Cookies for the Jettes...

Trying to stump Dad in Mastermind....

Monkey see, monkey do...

The forgetful ostrich...

Micah drove us the whole way to the zoo and back... and we didn't die! Two and a half hours in the log book! :)

Caleb is a 3-phone kind of man..

While Micah had to go to CC, we had a game day at Amelie's...

Making "Reindeer Chow" for the neighbors. (I decided to simplify from the cookies I used to do... there's more neighbors now!)

Abby and Caleb both made an Operation Christmas Child box. The letters they included made me laugh in their differences. Abby's says, "Dear friend, I really hope you love my gift. My name is Abby, and I live in USA (South Carolina), and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, and Jesus loves you. Love, Abby. P.S. I'm 10 years old."

Caleb's says: "Dear friend, Hello, my name is Caleb Ganson. I have given you a tub full of stuff. Here is a list of what I sent you: A size 10-12 husky t-shirt, a reusable water bottle, a jump rope, a comb, a rubiks cube, a deck of cards, 50 marbles, 6 glue sticks, 64 crayons, 100 page school notebook, and one tub. Have a merry Christmas. A sign that says Jesus loves you. Merry Christmas, Caleb Ganson."

The basketball set-up isn't as great at the new house as it was at the Midbrook house, but it still works!

The Carroll Financial Christmas party. Everyone at our table got up to take a photo, and while we were up, they moved our table so people could dance! Definitely the wildest CFA Christmas party I have been to!

Micah and I did Operation Christmas Child with CC people too. I checked all the shoeboxes to make sure they contained okay items. This was the funniest thing I found... a "financial plan" road map for kids to start investing. I'm sure the kids in the villages of Africa will really appreciate that!