The Holidays and My Birthday

For Thanksgiving we went to my parent's house. All three of my brother's were there, my sister-in-law was there, and so were Grandpa Van and Jo. We had some amazing food, but turkey was not part of the menu. The Mr. was so "upset" by this he wore black in memory of the turkey and I being the supportive wife I am I wore black too. After we ate the parents and grandparents chatted while the kids went off to play. The Mr. and my oldest brother played "Guitar Hero," my two younger brother's played on their computers, my sister-in-law took a nap, and I wondered from upstairs to downstairs taking pictures and watching the fun.





One of our friends has a Christmas party every year. There is always good food, good times, and crazy games. One of those games was a contest to make the best present in a limited amount of time with a limited amount of supplies out of one person in the group. The Mr. wasn't in my group, but he did get chosen to be the human present. He looks thrilled doesn't he?! Neither of our teams won, but it was a great time.



About a week before my birthday the Mr. and I went out to lunch with my family to celebrate. With a birthday so close to Christmas it's sometimes hard to plan something everyone can make it to on my birthday. Everyone made it except my brother Brian. He took a second job plowing snow and was several peoples' hero the whole night before. He was missed, but we still had a great time. We ate some yummy pizza, I opened some fabulous gifts, and we had some tasty dessert.



On the night before my birthday went out to eat with one of my best friends and her husband. We had Italian, then came back to our house where I talked the Mr. into letting my open my presents a little early.



Christmas Eve is the day that my family gets together to have a nice dinner and open presents. My mom always sets a beautiful table with her Grand Hotel china and makes an amazing dinner. This year we had prime rib and several yummy side dishes and of course dessert. Then it was time for presents. My parent's are super generous and got us all some awesome presents.



Christmas morning is when the Mr. and I celebrate our Christmas. It's very special to have the morning to share our gifts with each other. There are usually some silly stocking stuffers and even Samus gets some gifts too.



Then it's off to the Hall to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. My mom is one of seven kids and each of those kids had kids and now a lot of those kids have kids, which means a big family get together every year. We have been going to the Hall every Christmas for as long as I can remember. The day consists of all day eating and snacking, playing games, and watching the little one's open their presents from Grandpa and Grandma.

On New Year's day we were off to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. This day was filed with good eats and the traditional game of this family...Dirty Santa, a game that has cheap gifts that people steal from each other without even knowing what they are. There is usually a gift that gets stolen the most and ends up being something really silly. However, in the end everyone ends up with something and then they keep it or try to trade it. It's great fun!