Christmas Kickoff Party

It has become our tradition to have as much of Bill's family as possible over for dinner the day after Thanksgiving. We always have the famous "Shipley Taco Salad", which for my fellow Utahns is really meat nachos. Most of the older boys (Bill and his brothers, and Michael-a nephew) compete to see who can make their salad the hottest with peppers and salsa and this really mean Thai seasoning that could melt your esophagus if you aren't careful. So it has also become tradition to serve Tums as a side dish. After dinner we finish up the leftover pies from the day before and then cram everyone into the basement to watch a Christmas movie. It is always a lot of fun. It is great to start our Christmas season with the people we love best. This year we missed Mom and Dad Shipley very much and had our minds on them a lot. Grant's family, and Kathy's family weren't there either because they all live back East, but they are always there in spirit when we start sharing funny stories of when they were all growing up. I am glad to have been able to marry into a family that was as close as mine was growing up.