Christmas 2010 (part I)

Christmas is usually crazy.  Ever since I left California, Christmas has been a bit of a fiasco.  I have many friends who live in southern California; my dad lives outside of Sacramento and my grandparents on my mom's side live near my dad (a random coincidence).  Additionally, my dad's extended family does a Christmas celebration the Saturday before Christmas.  It's a lot of Christmas, a lot of people to see, and a lot of time traveling.  This is before I usually head to Oregon to visit my mom and sister.

Are you tired yet?

I have grown to appreciate Thanksgiving more and more these last few years.  Partly because it's a time to pause and reflect on my many blessings, and partly because it's too short of a holiday to do too much.

However, this post is about Christmas :)

This year, my sister and I decided to try and make it to my dad's extended family Christmas.  We hadn't been there in three or four years, and since I had a longer break (an advantage of being a student again), we decided this would be a good year to do it.

On Friday morning, I woke up at 5:30am and Mallory and I headed to the airport.  Her flight left at noon and mine at 3pm.  Upon arriving in Houston, Texas, I awaited my next flight to California.  A few delays, 5 hours worth of a layover, and a 4.5 hour flight, I was finally landing in California.  My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to pick me up from the airport ... late.  We arrived at their home at 1:30am (PST) ie. 3:30am EST...almost 24 hours worth of travel.  Phew.

Saturday morning came, and my body woke up as if it were on the east coast.  Boo.  However, we went to work peeling potatoes and preparing for the party.  I had a wonderful time visiting with the two of them before everyone else joined!

Dad's family Christmas is a tradition that's gone on for roughly 30 years, nearly all my life.  Every year we play Christmas bingo, sing the 12 days of Christmas, and have some sort of gift exchange.

Here are some pictures from the day!

I won!  Don't worry, we play enough rounds so that everyone can win!  My half brother Joey is next to me.

Below is a picture of Joey, me, my sister, and my dad.  We're only missing Kevin, my other half brother.  That, however, is a long story...and one I'm not even sure I know all the details to.

Aren't we cute?!  Do you see the resemblance?

We have two cousins closest in age to us, Lauren and Scott.  They are wonderful people and truly make these family get togethers a blast.  Anyway, Scott is now engaged to Lauren (who is featured on the left) and that's his sister Lauren in the middle.  Guess what his mom (my aunts) name is?  No, it's not Lauren, but it is Laura. 

Here's my sister, AJ (cousin Lauren's husband), and Scott.  Like I said, they were cracking me up...and apparently themselves as well.

Since there were 29 of us this Christmas, we had to partner up for the 12 days of Christmas.  My sister and I were ... yes, eleven pipers piping.

After the singing, we did a closet item gift exchange.  I'm not even sure I want to explain how it was played this year, but I'll say it involved my uncle and cousin playing the bongos.  Here is what we won! :)

I think, no, I know there was some tampering with the outcome...in our favor.  All this to say, the day was extremely enjoyable.  I had a good time catching up with family I hadn't seen in a long time.

That night, my sister and I celebrated Christmas with our dad.  As part of our family tradition, we exchange Hallmark ornaments.  I have a collection of puppy dogs, my sister has gingerbread houses, and my dad collects football players.  This tradition started when I was born.  I've gone through one other collection, rocking horses.  My sister, however, has gone through multiple collections.  Anyway, it's a fun tradition that has continued even into our adult lives, and I love that!  It was a nice ending to a nice day.

End of part one.