Our Family Christmas

Since it's still technically the Christmas season (the Twelve Days of Christmas don't end until Epiphany on January 6), I thought I'd share a little bit of our family Christmas with you.

We played hosts this year and had both sides of our family get together for one big celebration. With some help from Amy, Theresa, and my Mom, I put together a Thanksgiving-esque dinner and set up a buffet line in the entry hall.

Those are my three siblings towering behind me as I carve the turkey. I'm the runt in the family.

Since there was no way we could fit all 14 adults and one small child in our dining room, we set up one of our giant folding cafeteria-style tables up in the middle of the living room and were able to comfortably seat everyone. This is the first time we've done this and I'm glad it worked out so well!

Since I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, my sister-in-law Sarah (Five Camels) was nice enough to set up the table decor for me and I can't begin to express how appreciative I was to be able to focus solely on dinner. This is the second year in a row she's done this for me. Last year, I handed her some evergreen branches, silver ball ornaments, and candy canes with a crazy, slightly manic gleam in my eye and told her to do whatever she wanted with them.

This year, thanks to Kim's Dare to DIY party, I had more of a plan... but I still ended up shoving several bags of cranberries, mason jars, and holly branches at Sarah and telling her to do whatever she wanted with them. *sigh* One day I will be totally organized and prepared for everything, right?

Fortunately, Sarah is awesome and did a superb job!

She, Theresa, and my sister Kate even made some adorable wine cork reindeer to grace the table! See? This is why it's nice to have sisters who keep you sane! ;)

Since most everyone didn't arrive until late afternoon on Christmas day, we actually opened gifts after dinner.

Classic Radio Flyer!!! Woot!

 There are definite advantages to being the only kid in the family at the moment. Joseph seriously made out like a bandit. Puzzles and books were probably among his favorite presents. Yup. That's my kid.

Joseph didn't really understand that he had to keep opening his presents. For example, when he got a Clifford book and matching stuffed animal, he tossed the stuffed Clifford over his shoulder and expectantly turned around so that his Grandmom would read him his new book. Little did he know, he still had about 30 more presents to open. Poor kid...

Don't get used to it, buddy. Come May and June, you are going to have to start sharing. It's ok, though. As the oldest, you can be the ring leader!

Besides, being forced to open a million presents is terribly exhausting. Good thing he got that blanket!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!