christmas

Well, all my gifts are wrapped. Cookies will be baked tomorrow…I saved those for last so that I will actually have cookies to take to our family get-together. Instead of crumbs.

Abby will be spending the weekend at the “spa”…I think she now has figured out that spa is actually “boarding at the kennel” but we try to make it sound happier than it really is.

I’m looking forward to our family get-together. As we’ve gotten older and our families have grown, it’s become necessary to find an alternative to Grandma’s house. We have 39 of us this year, so we rented a hotel meeting room!

Of course, we made sure that we could bring in our own food. (Oh, my jeans will never fit after this weekend. They were tight already.)

Each year, it is one sibling’s job to pick a theme for the gift exchange. This year the theme is “international”…I thought it was easy finding a gift for this theme. The only rules are: keep it under $35 and it can’t be a gift card. Oh, and no booze…we have teenagers in the adult group who are under age.

All the gifts are put in the center of the room and we pick numbers to see who goes first. Number 1 selects a gift. Number 2 can choose a gift from the center or steal the gift from Number 1. This goes on and on until there are no gifts left in the center of the room. A gift is only allowed to be stolen 3 times and then it’s out of the running.

Some years, it gets crazy with all the stealing going on! Just when you start to think about enjoying your gift when you get it home, SNAP, it’s gone! But it’s all good fun.

I can’t wait to see everyone. We are all so spread out now that we don’t get together very often.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Stay warm.

(Images are from an animation I did for work)