Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

We had a fun and busy holiday season. Rob's family has a tradition that each year the weekend before Christmas we head to the farm for a family Christmas celebration. The kids always look forward to this. They get to play with their cousins there and this year was especially nice since the weather was still so warm. Sterling has a cousin, Sam, who's close to his age and they love to see each other. They spent the day just running around outside, being boys. Another of their cousins is Olivia. Although she's a few years younger than Emmy those two have a fabulous time together. Of course Joe and Cori have Will and Finn to run amok with and this year there was a new addition to the celebration, Zoe. She was the hit of the party!She's the new baby of Rob's cousin Natasha and her hubby Jared. Kailyn and Eddie were enthralled with her! It was a wonderful day and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Rob's family and just having a relaxing day.

For Christmas day this year we actually broke tradition. Normally we open presents at our house then head to Manhattan to split the day between Rob's family and my family. Instead Rob's parents and sister came to our house after their midnight mass and slept here. When the kids woke up at 6:00am we all opened presents together. The four older kids got MP3 players from Santa and several books from us. Sterling and Emmy both got art kits from us. Emmy also got a snow globe, which seems to be a new obsession of hers. Emmy, Joe and Cori got Nerf guns, which they have already lost the ammo to. Cori also got a cardboard spaceship that he can color and play in. Kai Kai got a new baby doll that talks and sneezes. She loved that doll! She also got a new kitchen which she wasn't too happy about Eddie trying to play with. Eddie got a remote control bus, a Leapfrog Laptop and House as well as a Weebles bus. They were so excited about all their gifts. But I think the best part was that Sterling, Emmy and Joe all gave each of their siblings gifts from their own stuff. Emmy even gave Rob and I some money she had saved after her birthday. She also earned a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble and instead of spending it on herself she bought each of her siblings a book (with a little help from me). It was so touching to see the kids giving their prized possessions to one another without any prompting from us. After that we had breakfast and then Rob's family had to go home. I really liked having them over and so did the kids. It was fun way to spend Christmas morning.

Of course, Christmas fell on Sunday this year so we had church in the morning. After that we came home changed and headed to John and Clara's for the rest of the day. My mom, Jordan, Blake and Rori and Taylor all came over from Manhattan. There was LOTS of food! The kids played, the adults talked and mostly just enjoyed the company. I love the chaos and noise of our family get-togethers. It is so fun to see the relationships that our kids are developing with their cousins. I'm so grateful that we have family that lives so close to us.

For New Years our family and John and Clara's family headed to Manhattan. We hung out at my mom's house. We were joined for awhile by the Smith family. Again, lots of food, noise and just a good time. Clara, Rob and I were stayed up with the kids watching movies. Jordan, Mom, John and Rori all went up to bed. A little before midnight Rori woke up so Mom came down with her. We broke out the sparkling juices (blueberry, cherry and grape) and toasted the new year with the few kiddos who'd managed to stay awake. As fun as it was, I have to say that New Years was a lot more exciting for me when I was a kid. Now, I'd be happy to just sleep through it! It's tempting to just set the clocks ahead a couple hours and pretend! ;-)

We had a wonderful holiday season and a blessed 2011. I'm looking forward to whatever 2012 has in store for us!