Christmas Eve

We spend Christmas Eve at my Aunt Kathy's house.  My Mom's family shows up in force, and we snack away on the best finger foods you can imagine.  We do a white elephant gift exchange and a gag-gift exchange.  We are getting more bold in our choices, and people are starting to become more devious in their strategies and steals.

It is always a beautiful evening of family, fun, and laughter.  This year was no exception. 

Here are some of the foods that we had this year.  Some are traditions (Aunt Kathy's 7-layer dip) and some are new.



And of course we had desserts!



The boy and I in our Christmas Eve duds. 


Christmas is about family, and I think we illustrate that perfectly.



Christmas is also about presents...or at least that's what the littles think.











Every year, I take some photos of all the little cousins.  Our group is growing, and next year there will be at least one more added to the group. (cough cough...Are you having a baby too April?)

Hunter was a year old this Christmas!



Oliver was three years old this Christmas and full of spunk!



Emmarie was three this Christmas too, but I think she might be full of sass.



Halle is our big girl at four years old.  She is a pro at this by now.



Dylan was our newest arrival, and he did a great job of staying still for all the photos.  3 month-olds are good at that.





Getting a group shot of everyone proved a little difficult, so I applied the technique of "snapping, snapping, just keep snapping."  There are at least a few of every child looking even if they are the only one. ;)









When we all get together like this, I try to take a family photo of everyone.  This is something that my mom has done since we were all little.











We try to sneak a few cousin pics and general goofiness as well.





It was an amazing evening and these are the memories that I treasure through-out the year.  We left late, but I didn't mind the drive home because I had lots of blessings to think and meditate on during the drive.