(Early) Family Christmas Party

The picture above is of our Christmas tree. It is in our living room and is really quite too tall for our house - it looks like it is going up the ceiling and into my bedroom! It was the perfect size for our house in Florida, but here it looks kinda goofy. Anyways, that is our tree and I love it!

Yesterday was my family’s Christmas party. It is not actually Christmas yet, but we have to have it early because I have a rather extended family. I have 3 half brothers and a half sister (we all have the same dad). They all have kids too. Their spouses also of course have to spend time with their families for the holidays, so we just plan our Christmas party before Christmas.

My Grandma that lives near us (well about an hour away) also comes to this party. It is probably the only time during the year she even gets to see my other siblings or their kids. Oh, this is not the Grandma who sent me that funny letter the other day.

This whole past week my Mom and I have been getting ready for this party. Getting all of the presents bought and wrapped, getting the food ready to be cooked (and buying it of course), cleaning the house, cleaning outside, etc. Yesterday I think we started at around 9AM and didn’t stop until 9PM. Once my Dad and Grandma got here I did end up having a whole bottle of Arbor Mist though. Hey, it eases the headache and my foot was really hurting. I stepped on the arch part (I have a really high arch) wrong on my left foot about a week or two ago and it has been hurting off and on ever since. Anyways, that is a little bit of a messy house update. Everything was cleaned and Chistmasfied downstairs.

We told everyone that was coming to get there from 2:30 – 3:00. Did they? Yes! It sometimes happens a bit later than expected, so this was a good thing. Two of my brothers and sister came with their spouses and kids. I have 9 nieces and nephews and 2 great nieces. Big family.

It was quite loud. Amazing how one little kid can have such a huge set of lungs. The kids did play outside for awhile though until it got too cold. The kids did get along though (well, as good as can be expected). The age range was from 10 months to 12 or 13 years old. I was told by a few that I “am like the coolest Aunt ever.” That makes me smile. Good kids, good kids.

The food was great. We had turkey, ham (I don’t eat ham though), green bean casserole, corn pudding, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, homemade biscuits/rolls, cakes, pie, cookies, homemade Chex Mix, and more probably that I am forgetting. Of course I didn’t eat all of this, but what I had was quite tasty.

After dinner we opened up presents and of course everyone enjoyed the festivities of ripping open paper and finding out what they got. We gave 3 of the kids cute little Shining Stars teddy bears which light up and sing. The cool part about those bears though, is that they actually let the kids name a star. Yes, a real star that is registered with the International Star Registry. Of course I had to go upstairs on my PC and sign them up and register it for them. Before I was able to do that though, I had to show them my paranormal investigation pictures from Sloss Furnace and listen to some EVPs. They find it very cool that I am a paranormal investigator aka “Ghost Hunter.”

Everyone had a great time. I hope that all of your holiday parties turn out too!