Just the Two of Us

Lunch holiday potlucks, decorating cookies and making breads and cakes, trips to Frankenmuth, ornament exchanges, dinners with friends, family gatherings...there are a lot of big group traditions in our Christmases.  But one of my favorites is our quiet night at home on Christmas Eve.  We go to a candlelight Christmas Eve service at church, I attempt a few timer photographs in our church finest and then we snuggle up in our (usually) new Christmas pajama pants and watch It's A Wonderful Life and I cry every time Harry Bailey toasts his brother and says "To George Bailey, the richest man in town!".  Jealous?  You should be.

Smaller Crowd, but more POP

My mother would love a big party with games and a silly gift exchange.  She has been host to many events like this.  But with my disjointed family, she doesn't always get to participate in these events.  But we had a great brunch with her and my brother on Christmas Eve morning and it was still very lovely.  Breakfast strata, potato pancakes and ginger coffee with whipped cream were served, gifts were exchanged, and a little girl was thoroughly entertained by a couple of sheets of bubble wrap.

Yes, the theme of this year's gift for my mom was essentials.  I got her, among other things, toilet paper and laundry detergent.  And I think she liked it.  

Oxendocker Christmas

Somehow, even when I resist, I get roped into helping organize my father's Christmas gathering for our family.  This year, I managed to only have to send out a mass email to the group, but my dad seemed to think I had moved mountains with my words.  I must have gotten the point across because we were 26/27 for attendance.  I guess I can also take credit for forcing the various segments of family onto the couch for annual round-up pictures as well.  And here they are:

All of the grandkids.
Back:  Isabelle, Emily, Emma, Violet, Lauren, Kendall, Naomi and Henry
Front: Quentin and Elijah

Dad and his kids.
Emilie, Caleb, Ben, Mandy and Eric.  Missing is Layne

Other highlights include the bonding and re-bonding of cousins who didn't always get to hang out together as often as they'd like.  Precious?  Yes, I think so.

And red was the color of choice for most children at the soiree.

Decking the Halls...and walls, and bushes and trees, and tabletops...

I love Christmas for a variety of reasons, but one of the top reasons would be the fact that I get to decorate the interior and exterior of my house without judgement.  Ok, there is probably some judgement from those that live with me...but I have learned to ignore his eye rolls, because yes, I feel it is worth it to haul out all of my rubbermaid bins and plastic bags and figurines encased in styrofoam and cardboard, set everything out, hide all of the packaging, then after about a month, get all of the boxes back out and put it all away again.  I loved doing this when I was a child and I look forward to sharing these experiences with my kids in the future too.

The big addition to my collection this year was my mother's Department 56 village.  I always loved when she put this up when I was a kid and I had always hoped that she'd let me have it when she was tired of putting it up anymore.  She isn't tired of it, but she simply doesn't have room for it, so she let me borrow it indefinitely until she has room to display it again.  It was trickier than I thought, trying to place all of the buildings and houses in just the right spots to create a village, but I was proud of my first-time end results.

Too many decorations at home - some have to come to work!