Big Christmas

Every year in my December photo folder on my computer, I have a file called Big Christmas and one called Little Christmas.  (And I realize that just by writing that one sentence, I'm giving the impression that my photos are actually ORGANIZED, when in reality, they're NOT.  So don't be too impressed...)  ;-)  Little Christmas is our own celebration with our own "little" family here at home on Christmas Day, which usually includes some friends who come over to eat and play games.  Big Christmas, on the other hand, is when we gather with as many of my siblings and their families as we can; sometimes it occurs before December 25 and sometimes after.  This year it happened yesterday and lingered over a little until today.  Two days of Big Christmas is better than one!  :)

There is always great excitement in the house when "the cousins are coming! the cousins are coming!"  :)

 While the women were finishing getting the food ready for our dinner last evening, my brother David and my dad had a little time to catch up...

 ...and the kids played a rambunctious (read: noisy) game of Life.  :)

 My sister Donna and her daughter Sheena.  :)

After he finished eating, Dad walked back down to their house and brought this little rocking chair up for Moriah (the same one Shav was sitting in for some of these pictures).

 Just her size.  :)

 As a family, we made the decision some years back to eliminate the gift exchange between the larger family and instead let each smaller family do gifts among themselves, a decision that I have been grateful for many, many times.  But my brother and his family did break the rules ;-) and bring one gift for my kids...

,,,a really nice set of dominoes for Mexican Train (which is my new favorite game, as evidenced by the fact that I let the boys stay up a lot later tonight than I *should* have because I was having so much fun playing it).  :)

This morning, after going to a church service with my parents, we all (except Donna and Sheena) :( gathered back at our house and ate leftovers - yum!

 And played more games.  :)  There were multiple games of checkers and chess going on in the living room, including this one between 15-year-old Elizabeth and 4-year-old Shav.  :)

We played Mexican Train and ate Oreo Ice Cream Dessert until the Pennsylvania folks needed to hit the road and head north.

 But before they left, we had to take some pictures...like the Davids picture...

 ...and a cousins picture.  One of these cousins is not like the other.  Take a wild guess, and see if you can figure out who was NOT happy about this photo shoot!  ;-)

What a difference since this picture from December 24, 2005!  :)

Then we took a just-the-girls picture...

...and a just-the-boys one.  There's a few more of them than us girls.  :)

 The boys wanted to do a goofy picture.  :)

Finally, last hugs were given, "goodbye!" and "I love you!" was called, and they were out the door.

Big Christmas was over.

I totally understood when one of the boys--Tobin, I think--sighed and said, "I wish they could have stayed three days instead of two."  We always wish for more...

Meanwhile, there's something really exciting just around the corner, and we're all looking forward to that--

Little Christmas.  :)