Merry Christmas to all

How was your Christmas? Weird to think it's all over for this year and that 2013 is just around the corner.

We had so much fun and have been so blessed this year!

In holding to our Christmas traditions, we went over to Grandma Jack's (her name isn't actually Jack - that was Grandpa's name, but ever since we were little that's what we've called her. I just realized that must sound funny unless you know otherwise! :) - anyway, we always go to her house on Christmas Eve and get together with Mom's side of the family.

This year was a little bit of a smaller gathering because a lot of our older cousins were with other sides of their family. But it was still fun and good to see everyone!

  We reminded Etau and Judy about the "bathroom prank" from last Christmas Eve and Judy (the prankster) immediately started laughing while Etau (the victim) got totally stone-faced at the memory. It was so funny!!

 When we got home, each of us girls opened a present from each other, then some of us (the cool people) stayed up and watched, "Garfield Christmas", another goofy tradition.
  Malia had to work on Christmas morning until 10:00 and she came home to find all of us pretty excited because we'd just gotten a Christmas email from David. Because he's still in the MTC in Brazil right now, he wasn't able to call home. But he did get to email us so we all sent one back to him.
  Then we came up and started opening presents. You know you've grown up a little when you're just as excited (or more) to open things as you are to see your family open their surprises from you! :) AND, I was excited because I'd had a special thing up my sleeve in cahoots with David.
  Before he left he had each of us siblings, parents, and both grandmas be in a picture with him - just the two of them/us. Anyway, he was saying that it was for a mission scrapbook that he wanted to make someday and have the "before" pictures in it. But...he took the pictures of him with Mom, Dad, and our grandmas and got really nice frames for each one and chose a scripture that he thought applied to each person.
  He wrapped them before he left and gave them to me and asked me to hide them until Christmas, then hand them out when it was time - all as a surprise!
  I didn't tell anyone about them and I decided to just sneak them into the present pile on Christmas morning so no one would have time to see them before that. I was so excited for Mom and Dad and Grandma Jack (who came over on Christmas morning) to get them, especially since it was something he'd planned so much in advance.
  Well, Grandma came over and brought a few things for us and guess what? David had left pictures with her to surprise all of us sisters with!! We were so surprised and he picked out such good scriptures that he considered to match up with each of us. Mom and Dad didn't know he'd done that, so they were just as amazed as we were. But the fun didn't stop there, because later in the morning they finally found the pictures he'd left for them. It was so fun to have everyone end up with such a cool surprise from him, even though he's miles away from us right now!

  After we had a tasty brunch at home, we packed up and hit the road to the Farm. Like I said, it was definitely different this year not to have David and Grandpa, and I know that Grandma must have missed him the most, but everything turned out really good.
  We had soups and cinnamon rolls and all kinds of tasty things when we got there. In honor of Grandpa, Grandma decided to serve one of his favorite drinks - red Kool-Aid with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Delish!

   Instead of just the cousins drawing names, we've started to do it where EVERYONE draws names, that way cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma are involved. I love doing it that way! So we all exchanged gifts with each other and it was complete, blissful chaos!

   

Baby Brian's 1st Christmas!

 (PS, David always used to re-gift his ugly sweaters to me at Christmas; so with the couple I have and the one I bought Nani this year, it was decided that all of us sisters would wear one - so there's mine.....)

  Talk about a crowded room!! That's just a portion of the living room in the basement and it is loud, crazy, confusion, and perfect!!!!! There are now 25 grandkids (not counting their spouses) and 10.5 great grandkids. Not all of them were there, but still a good portion. It's the best part of any celebration, just having all of us together.

The next part that happened was my and David's fault. A couple months ago we were talking and said that since Grandma usually gets all the cousins pjs for Christmas, it would be funny if this year she got footie pjs for everyone even the big guys. Well, we told that to Grandma and.....

Uncle Dave modeling his new "Avenger" jammies!

She didn't get footies for the big guys, but I think we're all thankful for that. :)

  It's hard to see everyone in their footies, but Grandma told all of us to put them on so we could get a picture. She also assured everyone that they never had to wear them again after that! :) Don't ask me what it is about me that made my grandma think, "Hmmm, I think I'll get Tiana the leopard print ones..." Oi! :D

 Look at all those guys rockin' their Christmas jammies! :)

 I just giggled the whole time to see everyone wandering around self-consciously in the footies!
I didn't even like the things when I was little; I always had Mom cut the foot part off because I felt too closed in. Talk about re-living a nightmare!! It was hilarious.

  We spent the night and most of Wednesday at the Farm just watching movies together and eating WAAAAY too many treats. On Christmas night it started snowing, which always makes things feel cozier (if you're inside, that is).
  I had walked over to my aunt and uncles' house across the lawn from Grandma's and as I walked back alone in the dark, the snow was coming down and everything was so quiet and peaceful. I love Christmas in the country, it just feels like home.
  This picture is hard to decipher, but that glowing part in the middle is a shot of Grandma's cozy Christmas living room, taken while it snowed during my walk back to her house. I just knew it would be warm and comfy once I got inside, which almost made me want to stay out in the big open spaces of the Farm, just to anticipate getting inside. Some of my best memories of Christmas are from the Farm and it's hard to describe the "home feeling" that comes with all those memories; I love it!!

  The next morning it was still snowing and everything looked so pretty!

I hope you were able to have another Christmas that left you with memories more important than things. And especially that you were able to reflect, even more, on the life of our Savior as we remembered that He truly is the reason for the season.