Our Christmas, in a nutshell

Where do I begin?

Every year our Christmases are different, since we've always lived far away from at least one side of the family. And by far away I mean four or five hours, not out-of-state.

All of our family is way too smart to live anywhere but Texas.

Ahem.

Our festivities started Christmas Eve Night, and we spent that evening with my husband's sister and her husband's family. First a beautiful Christmas Eve service at SIL's church, and then to a fancy-schmancy party at BIL's parents' house.

It was an evening full of great food, wonderful fellowship, and lots of laughter. We look forward to it every year we are able to attend.

Christmas morning we spent at home, which the kids are always thankful for. This year, though, we had to actually wake them up at 8:30. Son #1 was awake first, and he asked me to jump on his brother to get him out of bed.

I think he was excited about his PS3 or something.

After the kids opened presents, the four of us set up all of the new electronic equipment while dad was making the much-anticipated chocolate chip pancakes my daughter had requested.

(Well, sort-of. He didn't realize you were actually supposed to put the chocolate chips in the batter while you cooked the pancakes. His plan was to sprinkle them on top before you poured the syrup. Not exactly the same thing, but at least he cooked. And then he cleaned. It was very nice.)

After lunch we headed for my in-law's house. They live about 45 minutes from us, which made going over there for Christmas so much easier. We spent the afternoon and evening there, eating tons of food, opening gifts, and playing some games.

I brought some of our Christmas Olympics games, and then we played Apples to Apples. Have you ever played it? It's really a lot of fun.

The adults agreed to not exchange gifts this year, which worked out wonderfully for everyone. But my SIL thought it would be a great idea for us to all (meaning my husband and I and our kids and her and her husband and kids) to take a picture for her parents and the grandparents. So we did, and they turned out unbelieveably well.

All of the pictures were a huge hit on both sides of the family (we gave pics of us to my family as well), and I think everyone was glad to have an updated picture. The last time we took a family picture was five or six years ago, and the one we took before that was ten years ago. I think it was time. If you live in the Dallas area and would like to have some amazing photgraphs taken, please visit Kellyn Friedman Photography. She is a sweetheart, and I promise you will be awed by what she can do!

(Ok, I just had to stop typing because I spilled my drink all over the floor next to my bed trying to answer a text message from my daughter. Just thought I'd mention that.)

We got in late Christmas night, and the 26th was spent packing and preparing to leave for my parents' house for the weekend. We bring the dog with us now because my aunt is one of the greatest people on the planet and keeps him at her house in her fenced-in yard. (Plus, Duke and her dog are good buddies now.)

That night (Friday) we dropped off Duke, visited with my aunt and cousins for a while (I already miss you, Sam!), and played a game of Farkle. I lost.

Saturday afternoon was the big par-tay at my parents', and this year was definitely one of the loudest and craziest. If you've read my Christmas Traditions post (linked above), you understand why I need to take a deep breath before I even begin telling you about it.
This year, in addition to Christmas Olympics, we had ROCK CAMP! That means that my brother (who's in a big 'ol band) gave everyone instruments, brought all of his amps and microphones and lots of other equipment with wires, and taught us how to play a song.

It. Was. AWESOME!

I had hoped to have the video posted here today, but unfortunately, I could not figure out how to do that. The video is with my (other) SIL, and she's going to work on getting it to me so I can post it. It's hilarious! (We played Jumpin' Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones.)

There were new Christmas Olympics games this year which provided some great entertainment. We played Christmas ABC's (name something from Christmas with each letter). We decorated someone as Santa Clause with red streamers, stuffing, felt, and pipe cleaners. We wrote our own Christmas carol. We turned someone into Rudolph and had to make the most creative antlers.

And my favorite game this year: Holiday Sausages. Have you ever played? Oh. My. Goodness.

This was the funniest game ever.

We had two teams, and each team had to come up with four questions for the other team. No matter the question, the answer is "holiday sausages". The first catch is that you aren't allowed to smile or laugh when you answer, and if you can answer the question without doing either, your team gets a point.

(Just to give you an idea, one of the questions was, "Mommy, where do babies come from?")
The other catch is that you get to pick who you want to ask the question to, which made it totally unfair. Y'all, my husband and I were on different teams. So anybody that knows us personally knows that I failed miserably. I even apolgized to my teammates before the game began because I started laughing when I found out the rules. It was great.

Early Sunday morning, I left with my mom, aunt, and two cousins to visit my grandmother who didn't make it for Christmas this year. It was one of those quick-24 hour-visit-and-show-some-love-really-fast-even-though-you're-totally-exhausted trips, but I'm glad I went.

We got back to my mom's house Monday evening, and then I grabbed my stuff and headed to spend the night with my brother and SIL. I don't ever have enough time with them or my niece, so I enjoyed every minute of it.

Tuesday morning, I played with my niece, enjoyed a cup of coffee with her parents, and headed home.

Whew.

Since this is already way too long, I'll tell you about the very special gifts my kids made for Christmas later.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve day!

Originally posted December 2008 @ Mom in Transition