I have to say I am a little embarrassed that I don’t have more pictures of Christmas day. We are busy, busy that day, and after the initial rush of opening gifts at home, I forget to snap pictures. We start our day at 6:00, not because the kids wake us up, but because the alarm goes off! We have to be up then so we can do our thing before we are off visiting family. At 8:00 (or as close as possible to that time) we left our house, all dressed up in new clothes that Santa brought, and packed tight with gifts to give to family. It was very slow going this year. We were hit with a big storm on Christmas Eve, and the roads were very icy. We got to my parents house at about 9:30, both my married sisters were there and my two punk brothers. We ate muffins and cinnamon buns (I made those at about 10:00 pm on Christmas Eve) and had orange juice. If you didn’t grow up in my house you wouldn’t understand how very special orange juice is, we NEVER had it growing up. We also opened gifts, and that was a lot of fun. I love going there in the morning when everybody is happy and fresh. The kids are still so excited, showing off what Santa brought (my girls get to pick one thing to take; they all brought their new dolls). We enjoyed each others company, and had a nice time. At about noon we all packed up and headed off to my grandma and grandpa’s house (aka Monga and G-pa), they are off on a mission this year, my sister is living i
n their house, and she graciously let the whole family come over for the traditional brunch. My mom comes from a family of 8, and almost everybody was there, it was a full house! Full, but so wonderful!!! I love seeing my family, my aunts and uncles and all the kids!!! There are 6 babies a year old and under! We had the traditional Christmas brunch: scones, scrambled eggs, sausage, and orange juice. Everything was almost perfect; I missed my G-pa’s annual “speech” and of course Monga’s special touch. All the families got a special gift from Monga and G-pa and the little kids exchanged gifts. The aunts and uncles all pooled their money and gave my punk brother money towards his mission. We had a nice visit and all the kids LOVED their gifts. We left a little after 2:00, my baby was very sleepy, and we needed to find a quiet place. As we were leaving I took a quick look at my brother. He will be leaving for two years on January 2nd, a little over a week. It hit me all the sudden that he really wasn’t goi
ng to be around next Christmas. I hugged him, for a long time, I am going to miss that boy! We headed up to my in-laws, where I put the baby down and punk #4 for naps. I also laid down myself, the night before I came down with the same bug that had been plaguing my zoo for the past week, and I wasn’t feeling so hot. I had a good long nap (thanks Mike and in-laws). We had a wonderful dinner; in mom-in-law’s sort of new dining room then after that we opened gifts. We hung out there until about 8:00, then packed our hyper punks up (waaaaaay too much sugar that day!!!) and headed home. We had a great day. I love seeing all the family. People ask me if I hate all the rushing and visiting and driving. I would say NO!! I LOVE IT!! I love the bustle and hustle, I love seeing everybody, and I love it all. I am so thankful for my abundant family!
(notice punk #4 decided that she needed a little post feast snack, and that punk #1 and punk #3 can’t hold still!)
Doesn’t Dad look like he is enjoying this so much!
(now he told me that if I posted this particular picture he would kill me, so I would like to take a moment and thank you all for reading my sort lived blog. Thank you all for being my friends, for all the kindness you have show me. I hope you all know that I love you all so much. I hope you will have fond memeories of me in the years to come.)
(Punk #1)
(Punk #2) 
(Punk #3 the middle child)
I was going to enjoy the holiday!
(Punk #4…the baby girl)
Weeeeell……
(Punk #5…of the male variety)
As of December 18th, I had only cut them out.
On December 19th, I finished the first two at about midnight
On Demember 21st, I finshed two more at about 1 am
On the evening of December 21st, I finshed baby boy’s PJ’s at about 10 pm.
On Christmas Eve, I finally got all the snaps put on…
Whew, so much for finishing them early!
(if you look really close you will notice the hems of the nightgowns aren’t finished)
Lets all smile for a picture!!!
