Christmas Vacation Part II

CHRISTMAS!  I really, really, REALLY love Christmas, despite what some people may think.  I tend to stay fairly calm when opening presents and I don't get overly excited (even though I LOVE presents and I truly appreciate them).  I've been accused more than once of not getting "excited enough".

Anyway, K and I had a great Christmas.  The morning started off with stockings which are always a highlight.  All of us kids look forward to our stockings and you know you're in the family when you've got a stocking on the fireplace.  My family has really ballooned in the past few years (3 marriages and three new babies since 2006) so there are a lot more of us.  The mantle is really reaching its limit:

After stockings, we had some delicious Monkey Bread made by my big sister and brother-in-law, and then the real fun began.  I do realize that these are difficult times for a lot of people and my family has certainly felt the impact of this economic climate, but I know my family is incredibly blessed to have my mom and stepdad at the helm.  They spare no expense when it comes to their kids and grandkids and there were so many presents under our tree this year that I had a hard time believing they were all for us.

My niece, Taylor, enjoying her first Christmas with Grandma.

In May my sister and sister-in-law both had babies within about twelve hours of each other.  The result was these two cuties, my niece and nephew.  My older sister and her family live on the other side of the country and we only get to see them a couple of times a year, so this Christmas was extra special because they were here to share it with us.  It also meant that we got to share my niece and nephew's first Christmas ever.  Uncle K got a picture with both of the babies:

Take 1.

That's better.

And the final Christmas activity was the 2nd Annual Gingerbread House Competition.  There was some debate about written rules and outside materials, but we all had fun making our creations.

Working on the houses.

The finished products.

We started this competition last year and realized that we couldn't have just one winner, so we create a category for each house.  Clockwise from top left, the winners are:  Best Theme: "House Under Construction" (K's house); Best Landscaping (my house); Best Use of Round Materials; Best Snow; Best Use of a Variety of Materials.

I hope everyone else had an amazing holiday and just think... less than a year until next Christmas!