Saturday before Christmas (Dec 18) we had an extended family gathering for Joe's mom's side of the family. The Host cleared out their garage and put carpet down, tables up and left the service door open to the house - talk about smart and resourceful! It added another large room to the party - and they had bins of toys out there for the kids - our kids had a blast!
They had a Birthday Cake for Jesus and each kid got an anonymous present (from an assigned adult) - both my boys LOVED their gifts!The next day (Dec. 19) we had my mom's extended side family gathering; it was at my grandparents house - we each brought something (or two) for the appetizers and meal...we had quite the feast!
The boys got a lot of wonderful gifts - these slippers being one of the faves! Ethan has Spiderman and Judah has Cars - can't go wrong with those! The other 'boys'..aka my 3 brothers and Joe...got pocket knives - really? Of course they had to use them with everything they did - including drinking their coffee....
Boys will be boys I guess:)Our next party was on Christmas Eve Day at my parents; I have a large family (I'm one of 6 kids; 2 of us 6 have kids so it's getting big!) it's hard to coordinate everyone being together on the holiday at the same time - well, we could ALL be together Christmas Eve Day so that's what we did!
For our siblings we bought fair-trade gifts from other countries; we went through Ten Thousands Villages; all the proceeds went to the crafts people directly! We got my brothers musical instruments (which is fitting as they are in a band together) - I could (and probably should) do a separate post on ALL the gifts we got; I must say they were pretty cool!Speaking of gifts - I got these sweet slipper boots! LOVE 'EM and have them on right now:)
We stayed at my parents house through dinner then went over to Joe's parents for a short visit in the evening (Christmas Eve still); it was the only time we would see Joe's older brother and wife over the Christmas weekend as they were going to her (my sis-in-law) parents the next day. So, we hopped over there and had dessert and the boys got a few presents. 
I love how the other kids (Ethan's 2nd cousins) are hovering over the cool gift! Handy Manny was a hit this year! We stayed at Joe's parents for a few hours then went home to call it a night.The next morning (Christmas Day!) we woke up and had a lazy morning (our mornings start EARLY around here..)
and then the boys opened up their stockings from US. Yep - US not Santa. Short nutshell of why we don't do Santa: he's not real; we won't lie to our children; he has nothing to do with the 'meaning' of Christmas. nutshell done. 
Then it was off to Christmas Breakfast at Joe's parents house - we had a delicious egg bake with fruit and yogurt...hmmm...It was a quieter gathering with just us, Joe's parents and Joe's brother Tom. We opened presents and everyone got wonderful gifts!
Judah loves his firetruck! He calls it his 'weee-ooo-wee-ooo' (imagine a toddler creating the sound of a siren) I got some new winter snow boots! I was so excited! Since my boys are older they want to play outside more..and my old boots were dead. 
Ethan got a big surprise...A BIKE! 
He was super pumped and wants to ride it now...spring will come soon enough (I hope:)We hung out at Joe's parents till early afternoon then headed back to my parents for our annual Pannekokens! Pannekoken's are a baked, fluffy, giant pancake (sorta) that you pile high with yummy goodness - our goodness of choice: ice cream, powdered sugar, fruit, syrup, etc..
Joe is cutting that one in half for us. He got one half and I got the other - it's big but it's sooo good. It's the whole meal! 
I tend to plop all the toppings on and gobble it up where my hubby makes his a piece of art first...then gobbles it up:)After Pannekoken it was game time - I got in on a game of Golf with Tess, grandpa and Jordan....
Such a fun game! 
Me and my sister, Tess...I think she's scared that I'm beating her in Golf...or maybe not:)As you can see/read we had quite the Christmas season this year! Lots of family, parties and food - good thing I enjoy all of those! We came home with wonderful gifts from everyone - such a huge blessing! Our boys were troopers and did AWESOME at all the parties! I'm still in shock that it's 2011....oh boy. Happy New Year everyone:)
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