Family Reunion/Christmas Part II

Christmas Eve we met in the gym for a nice dinner. It was rather a rushed affair, though, because our church service began at 6, and dinner was at 5. Kristen's musical group was in charge of the service and quite a few of us went over to the candlelit sanctuary.

After the service, we went back to the gym, gathered around the tree, and everyone opened a gift from Mom/Grandma/Great Grandma. She had such fun shopping with her daughter for everyone. It was a surprise to me - I thought only the children were receiving gifts.

Each of the ladies received a lovely heart-shaped necklace. Each of the guys received this:



Great Aunt C then got up and surprised all of the kids - she and Great Uncle R gave each and every great grand a gift card for Build-a-Bear Workshop. Wow, were they excited!

Christmas Day was interesting - we went to my folks' for dinner with my side of the family. The company all went to my SIL's and spent the day - I'm not sure what they did for dinner, to tell you the truth.

It was a big day for the twins - they sat up together on their own for the first time and played with one of their new toys.




Katie was crawling into Emma's car seat - they have developed incredibly in the last month - no physical therapy needed for tight hip muscles!




The niece who stayed with us asked me the first day they were here if I was going to make my "famous" cinnamon rolls while she was here. I tried to figure out how that could work out. Sema had been asking if I was going to make them, too, because that's a family tradition on my side - we have brunch and then a late Christmas dinner. Kristen also wanted some. Bottom line - I decided to do it, and then ended up inviting everyone over for rolls and coffee/tea/hot chocolate at 9:00 on the 26th. I wish I had some pictures, but I was too busy hostessing. I know - call me crazy! DC did!

Right after this event, we all headed out to Build-a-Bear for quite an adventure. It seems as though half the town had received gift cards for Christmas! And they were short one person, who had called in "sick." The line went throughout the entire store, then another line at the check-out. All of the parents and grandparents were there with our 11 kiddoes, so we made quite an impact!

Each child gets to pick out the shell of a animal (far more than just bears!) -- then they blow in the filling --

The children help by stepping on the pedal that operates the blower.


The next step is to put a heart inside your new friend.



Care Bear helped one of the twins get hers filled.

The next steps are picking out an outfit, naming them, registering them on the computer, and paying for them. We chose to skip the registering part because there were just too many of us and it took too long. That night after dinner we took pictures of the whole gang.


That evening we had to clean the gym and kitchen and leave them "as we found them." The twins patiently waited, serving as the holding place for all of Care Bear's and Feisty's "bears" - they each had one or two from previous birthday gifts.

One of the most fun things was watching everyone's interaction with the twins. Kristen enjoyed some relaxation as Kate and Emma were passed around.

Kristen has a great new post that will warm your heart. Please go over and check it out if you have been following her life, and if you have access to her private blog. If you don't, but would like to, please let me know and I'll ask her to invite you. She misses her old friends who haven't had a chance to join in. THANKS, TOOTS, FOR MY NEW LOOK!!

Coming soon: Anniversary Adventure