Merry Christmas from our home to yours! 

Brynne continues to play the piano. She has been playing for over 10 years! Yesterday she entertained us with "O Come, O Come Emannuel". 

Do you mind??? We are trying to take a serious Christmas picture here!!!!! 

So these are a year old, but they are so cute of Joshua. I don't want him to feel slighted and every other cousin has been visible on our blog. Joshua came last November with his mom and again last spring with his dad. He is a crack-up and we wish he would come back to TX, but for some reason both of his parents are not gung-ho about hopping back on a plane with a two year old. Go figure... 

Generally speaking this site is for Mattsons or others with Mattsons. However, this little guy is so cute he gets to stand alone. My brother, Josh and his wife, Miranda, were going to a wedding in AZ. My parents kept their two year old, Joshua and Jonathan hitched a ride to DFW with his folks. We snagged him at the airport and got to spend just over 48 hours with him. It was quite a treat to have such a happy little guy with us. He was an equal opportunity snuggler who would laugh out loud with frequency. We miss him and wish he, along with the other cousins, lived closer. 

Jacob's real birthday was Wednesday, 12/6. He came home from school to find a new basketball challenge for the playroom. He had a basketball game and then we had a basketball treat! 

Someone else has a late November birthday celebration. I don't want to be too much of a big mouth, but let's just say there are 13 more years until retirement - as it stands now! 

We had our first "wintery mix" of the season in November. Jacob got the day off, but the girls had to get to school! This was the first day in many weeks that Brynne left her car at home and mom took her to school.
 

This is called catch up! It has been awhile since I have updated and it time to give you a "Snapshot" of Colleyville. Jacob celebrated his 10th birthday this December. He prefers to celebrate with his friends in late November so to put a bit of distance between his birthday and Christmas. We had a nice group of boys to the park to "have a ball." Kickball, football, basketball etc.

 

Jacob is learning to be a Michigan fan with his football and Wolverine t-shirt. Maybe Stephen needs a Longhorn shirt for his birthday to call it even! 

What did you get Lacey??? 

One of Brynne's gifts was a beloved Starbucks gift card! 

The cousins did their Christmas gift exchanges. But not until we tried to get a group photo! 

We enjoyed lots of outdoor time! It was a very mild Thanksgiving for Michigan. That made the Texas folks pretty darn happy! 

Besides eating we had various recitals at Gram Burkard's piano. 

The girl cousins...

Hannah (Suzanne and Scott)
Brynne and Lacey (Gregg & Elizabeth)
Little Lauren (Debbie and Brian) 

The boy cousins...

Matthew (Deb and Brian)
Andrew and Stephen (Suzanne and Scott)
Jacob (Gregg and Elizabeth) 

The three sisters -
Debbie (North Carolina)
Suzanne (Hostess in Michigan)
Elizabeth (Texas) 

The three husbands -
Brian (Debbie's husband)
Gregg (Elizabeth's husband, ha!)
Scott (Suzanne's husband) 

For maybe the 2nd time ever the Mattson family went somewhere else to celebrate Thanksgiving. About a month ago we asked to join Debbie's family at Suzanne's home in Michigan. It was a quick trip up one day and home the next, but a very good one. Here Jacob, Stephen, Matthew and Lauren get ready to "gobble" down some turkey. 

Jacob has rolled over to his next sport...basketball! He is really excited that his dad is coaching his team. Make that teams. Gregg has two going...one for the end of the fall season and another for the winter season. Watch for some action shots from coaching/playing.