Second Post of the Day
Merry Christmas!
Early Christmas morning - Santa's been here.
Cole and his family and Kyle and his girls were staying with us. Despite it being Christmas morning, they all slept in until 8:00!
First Opening
Uncle Kyle read Luke 2 to everyone (dogs included)
and then stockings were opened.
Next we moved onto gifts. Whitney took photos of her dad opening his gift from her,
and then Melissa did the same when he opened her gift to him!
Emily with Julie and Susan
A dragon mama with four babies inside her!
We finished up and then cleaned up - although family at the other three locations (Lisa's home, Curt's home, and a VRBO) had also had visits from Santa Claus, there were still more gifts on the way for the family gift exchange.
The Grand Gathering and Opening
Everyone came, including my siblings and their families.
Only 21 of us made it into the picture - Uncle Cole and Aunt Emily had brought Squishmallows for all the cuzzos.
The dogs enjoyed watching all the commotion, too. (Pepper, Nash, and Tammo.)
My sister Jenny, Sarah, and Vanessa.
Sarah got a very special gift from Jayci and JC. They collected photos Sarah (a wildlife photographer) had taken of 399 (who was killed by a car this fall) and had them made into a blanket as a gift.
Christmas Dinner
Gift opening over (well, at least until we played Dirty Santa), everyone pitched in for a massive clean up/set up for dinner.
We had two long tables and a card table in the living room,
a younger cuzzos' table squished into the dining room,
and the regular dining room table.
A buffet was set up in the kitchen on the island, counters, and kitchen table and everyone came in one door, served themselves, and then headed out the other door to find a seat at a table. It worked well, but it was a real squeeze going through the dining room.
Thirty-four people were here for dinner - I think that's the most we've ever had.
Playing Dirty Santa
Dinner over, there ensued another huge clean-up, and then it was time for the over-18s to play Dirty Santa, something we all look forward to. (The game is explained here.)
The wrapped Dirty Santa gifts were set out on the card table and Jessica handed everyone a random card that would determine the order you got to choose a gift.
Most of the kids watched from the overlook. (Whitney, Cambria, Ian, Mila, Julie, and Titan.) The other kids preferred to play with their new games, Legos, and other gifts.
stole it from him. (Craig then had to choose another gift. Which also got stolen. All in all, Craig had five gifts stolen from him!)
The Red Ryder BB Gun ended up with Jessica in the end.
Games & Fun
Once Dirty Santa was over, pies were set out and the tables were turned into game tables. For the rest of the day, it was an open kitchen/eat what you want when you want/clean up after yourself when you were done. Very casual, fun, and easy.
We had three game tables going. One in the living room (Todd, JC, Trinity, Jayci, and Lukas accompanied by Henry and Nash),
another at the kitchen table (my nephew Eric, Curt, Trinity, Jessica, Andrew, and Cole),
and a third at the dining room table (Vanessa, Cambria, me, and Ian.) Some football was also on (there are a lot of football fans in this family!) and the kids were playing games upstairs on the overlook, too. Such a fun time, just being together as family.
It was such a jam packed day, some of us even took a quick nap - amazingly since there was so much happening everywhere.
Frank nodded off while talking to Lisa and Emily.
Trinity cuddled up on the floor with Tammo and zonked out for a while.
I don't have photos (and I wish I did) but my kids completely took over the final clean up for Craig and me at the end of the day. They put furniture back, took trash out, vacuumed, straightened up, sorted things that needed to go home with everyone, and more. Honestly, I was so exhausted at that point, I had been wondering how I would get it all done.
A midday view from the overlook.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
