Friday, December 26, 2008

Post-Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is actually over. It came and went so quickly!! Christmas Eve my family and I went to my grandmother's house (Dad's mom) for dinner and presents. We have done this every year since I was born. It's a great tradition! My Dad has one sister and she has 2 kids (boys). We had a great dinner and a great time with each other (and of course the gifts were great too--but that shouldn't be important). My grandmother also recently started a tradition of playing Dirty Santa. She goes out and buys cheap, funny gifts and then lets us play Dirty Santa after we give and receive our "real" gifts. It's pretty fun!! Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve!!




Christmas morning we eat breakfast as a family then open our gifts from each other!! We have done this every year since I was born as well! We also read the Christmas Story (Jesus' birth) each year before opening presents! We were very blessed this year just to get gifts! My brother also cooked us some AWESOME TASTING AND LOOKING OMELETS for breakfast! He is an awesome cook! Another Christmas tradition is having a LIVE tree! I love the smell of a live Christmas tree! Here are a few pics from Christmas morning!






To wrap up Christmas Day, we went over to my Aunt's house (Mom's sister) to spend the day with her side of the family...which is quite huge! We eat lunch then exchange family gifts. This side of the family is so big, that to buy each individual gifts, would be a little much. So now we just get each family a "family" gift! I had a great time visiting with all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. My Mom's parents were unable to make it and three other families were coming later in the afternoon. So only half of the family was actually there while we were there. Sometimes that's actually kind of nice :) Anyway...here are some pictures from Christmas Day. We always have a picture with people asleep on the couch! These guys were worn out...I'm guessing. The picture with the baby in it is my little cousin Katherine (Katie)..named after me! And the picture with the guys outside (all of my cousins)...the guy on the right that looks like a wreath is around his head...that was unintentional...just happened to be that way...it's actually a wreath from the window behind him!






And finally, last night my Mom and I went to look at Christmas lights. Our local newspaper had put out an article with select houses that were worth going to see their lights. So we checked those out then visited a few more neighborhoods. I wore my pajamas, slippers, and took some hot chocolate with me. It was great...especially just the two of us! By the end of the day, we were exhausted!! But that didn't stop us from getting up this morning to do a little after-Christmas sale shopping!! We didn't finish today...and will pick up tomorrow!!

This afternoon we went to visit one of my Mom's other sisters who do their own family Christmas. She has 4 boys. Three of them are married. 1 couple lives in New Mexico, and another lives in California. The other 2 are local. This year they had their entire family home. Today Mom and I got to see the 2 couples who live out of state and one of the new baby cousins! We had a great time!!

We definitely had a blessed Christmas and are definitely extremely thankful for each other and the time able to spend with each other! God has performed so many miracles for our family, and we are honored to be celebrating the miracle of Jesus' birth! I hope everyone had a great Christmas as well!!

I will post later on with a health update!!!

2 comments:

Christy said...

Katey you look absolutely amazing in those pictures!! I love your hairstyle.
I'm glad you had a good Christmas.

Alicia said...

Sounds like so much fun!!! I love that one family picture of all of you around your grandmother. What a great Christmas!