Merry Christmas

Christmas is such a special time of year for our family. We have a lot of big and little traditions we attempt to squeeze in every year. Tradition calls for us to hit the Mexican restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota for lunch. A HUGE lunch. We eat salsa, chips, and burritos until our sides creak. This year was no exception.

Table for 16? No problem

My grandma, aunt, mom, sister and I help put dinner together. I'm using the term "help" loosely this year. I think my main duty was putting jelly into serving dishes and transporting item after item to the dining table.That leaves everyone else in charge of entertaining the kids, which mainly consists of keeping them out of Grandma's china cabinet. It's harder than you'd think.
My poor cousin Kyle. William took a liking to him and snuggled right up next to him on the couch to watch some TV. And then proceeded to talk his ear off and wiggle like crazy. He was a good sport (Kyle).A glimpse at the future.
I'm not sure what this "game" was. I didn't know it was going on, so I can't explain it to you. I can tell you no Christmas sweaters were hurt as a result.More "games" with Grandpa

Christmas Eve calls for us to be with my mom's side of the family. Everyone eats again until they are in pain. Then, Grandma brings out dessert. After two rounds of dishes (dinner, then dessert), it is finally time for some family pictures. Although I remember this as tortuous as a child, I love this tradition now. I love being able to look back and see how everyone has grown/changed over the last year, year by year. However, this tradition is a great source of stress for me as well. I KNOW our family's picture is going to be taken MANY times over the Christmas trip. We have anywhere from 3 to 5 Christmas gatherings to attend, all involving food (which means I can guarantee at least one of us will have spilled). It is my own particular....specialness that requires me to have enough coordinating Christmas attire with for each gathering (and occasionally a spare for the kids). I want us to LOOK Christmasy AND I want us to coordinate. I also want to be able to tell the Christmases apart by the photos since they all tend to run together. This requires a lot of planning to put together. I'm not even going to try and estimate the number of hours I spend on putting the Christmas clothes together.

Me and the kids

A family picture - Christmas Card 2011?
Another option
My attempt at the kids together

My uncle's family

My Grandparents and their grandchildren (missing one great grandson). Notice neither John nor I are wrangling our children?

Getting this many people in a picture is chaotic

My mom's family

Sweet, patient boy

My immediate family minus my dad who was....not cooperating. Note how John and I aren't holding our kids in this picture either.

Here's everyone!

My cousin Ashley's family. This is the first time I got to meet her precious baby boy. He was so sweet and good! He also had the most DELICIOUS chunky baby thighs I've ever seen.

After all the pictures, it is FINALLY time for some presents! Amelia was slow to warm up, but caught on VERY fast. We had to watch her like a hawk.

Amelia LOVED Mrs Potato Head

Reading a new book. Everything else pales in comparison to a new book

There isn't such thing as too many times. Megan takes her turn. Note all the still wrapped packages surrounding Megan. These kids will stop EVERYTHING to read.

Aunt Kaye shows off her preburned Lefse apron

William LOVED his racecar blocks. I was a fan of this abstract interpretation.

Merry Christmas Everyone!