Did everyone have a nice Christmas? Ours was very good. I have to say, I'm so grateful that I am in a family where everyone really makes an effort to be together. We're far from perfect, to be sure, but we love each other and work hard to stay united and try to get together about once a month.
After working my patootie off on Wednesday and Thursday, the family started arriving around 5pm on Christmas Eve. That is something else I'm grateful for--that, aside from those in the military, we all live within 45 minutes of each other. And now that my brother and his wife have bought a house only half a mile away, even better!
Here are some pictures:
After all of the food had been eaten and the gifts had been opened, things started to wind down. We relaxed for a while, half the families went home, and I started to survey the huge clean up job that was ahead of me. I didn't care, it was worth it! We had a great time!
My mom and her sister's family decided to go to midnight mass at the Catholic church around the corner. At one time, everyone in our family was Catholic. Over the years different relatives have gone to different churches, but everyone still feels very connected with the Catholic church, and we know that my grandpa would've been happy. Early bird that I am, I stayed behind and worked furiously for 2 hours cleaning, cleaning cleaning. I got to bed around 1am, everyone who had gone to mass came back around 1:45am. I never even heard them!
On Christmas Day our little immediate family gathering wasn't until 5:30pm so that my brother could go to his in-laws and my nephew could get a good nap. But then we did our little gift exchange at my mom's and had a "breakfast" around 7pm. Hey, it's tradition! And it gave me a chance during the day to clean the house up from the previous night. Since I don't have a dishwasher and my mom has a new one, I made at least 20 trips back and forth across the street carrying dishes.
Today the house finally is taking shape and looking like normal again after the family Christmas tornado. Good thing too! Because my friend, Eric, is arriving on Monday morning for an 11 day visit! I can't wait!
Coming up on the next post....2 videos I took of my cousin Robby and his hilarious Elmo impression...SO FUNNY!!!
2 comments:
Sounds like you had a fun Christmas! It's wonderful that almost everyone lives so close! I'm jealous! =)
We had a lot of fun, and believe me, we know that we are very, very lucky that we live so close together. I am so glad that my brother and his wife bought a house so nearby!
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