There are times throughout the year that I feel bad for the rest of you. Yesterday was one such day. Yesterday, we had our traditional Maxwell Family Christmas Celebration. We had so very much fun. Below is a recap.. I almost hate to share our joy as it seems wrong when I know that others don't have what I have. But I'll share for those of you that enjoy seeing the antics of my family!
The first thing we do is eat. We have a wide variety of foods. We start with dessert. It's not that we plan to, we just like to snack.. so we ate some "Christmas Crack" along with some prosciutto and mozzarella.
After eating, we do our annual family picture. I love these pictures! I did finally realize that the reason my face is never focused cause I focus the camera and start the timer and the run and jump in the picture at the end. I really need to get one of those remotes so that I can have a non-blurry face!
After the real picture, we take the crazy picture. These are truly some of the best pictures we have! They are adorable!
Moments later we are ready to open gifts.
oh wait.. a picture with me? :)
One of the best parts of this process is not what is in the packages, but the absolute joy on everyone's face. And in case you didn't know... joy is LOUD!
After the kid's craziness abates the adults do a gift exchange. We have themes every year. This year we did "free trade" gifts. I bought earrings from Noonday. I brought home a cool bracelet from Ten Thousand Villages. This was a really fun theme.
After the exchange we played. Kylie asked for skates and Mom bought them for her and her same-aged cousins. The three of them had a ball!!
My dad has a model train that he was given as a child. I LOVED that train growing up. He got it out after years in storage and the kids loved it. Hudson seen in the picture below LOVES trains and was in his element sending it back and forth over and over again!
The weather was gorgeous and we spent hours outside. (okay, I was cold and it was was windy, but the kids didn't care.)
One of the favorite activites is always tossing the footballs. Well, this year, tossing the football was taken to a new level.
It started innocently. Dad mentioned that the guys could knock off the rest of the pecans out of the tree with the footballs. Well....
3 footballs stuck in the tree.
Here is what followed.
yeah.
My dad... up the ladder, into the tree, standing on a branch, holding a stick... his four daughters yelling at him to get down!
That's when I went inside.
Thankfully he came down... well long enough to find a bigger stick.
Anyway, we had a blast. The kids love playing together and my sister's and I enjoy talking and laughing and watching our children renew their bonds.
These moments are special and fleeting I know. How thankful I am.
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