A few years ago, my family was having some difficulty finding a time when we could all celebrate Christmas together.  The only time that seemed to work was Christmas morning, so we opted for Christmas brunch.  It turned out great and was a lot of fun, so it has been something we have continued doing.  To add to the fun, everyone who is available attends a Christmas Eve candle light service and then spends the night at my parents’ house.  Kind of like when we were kids, except our family has doubled in size :)

After Christmas Eve candlelight service.  The kids looked so cute!

There probably will be a day when this tradition has to end, but for now it is my favorite.  Another fun tradition is a mystery gift from my parents, where everyone takes turns asking yes or no questions to try and figure out what the gift is.  Whoever figures it out first gets to take the gift.  My mom has been impressively creative with this, with past gifts including things like a gas gift card and quesadilla maker.  This year my brother got to take home a cordless drill. 

Whole family on Christmas morning

We also have traditions of gift giving, photo ops, jammies for the kids, extended family parties, and eating ridiculous amounts of food. My family isn’t perfect, and we have our own sets of problems and quirks just like everyone else, but when we’re all together like this we always have a lot of fun.

The kids in their new jammies

The kids are always a great source of entertainment, and my mom always says we need to write down some of the hilarious things they say, so here’s a quick cute story… While recalling something that happened earlier this week, my brother asked, “Emma, what did you say when you got stuck under the table?” Emma replied, “Ayúdame.” While everyone was laughing and discussing how our little Dora and Diego fan didn’t even actually know what the correctly-used phrase meant, James chimed in with, “Emma, next time you should say ayúdame, por favor.” I can’t even type that without laughing out loud right now :)

Ahmed and I before the Christmas Eve service

After lots of delicious food, some fun games, movies, and great quality family time, Christmas is over for this year.  I am so thankful for all of the wonderful memories we have made while celebrating the birth of Christ. Everyone has left my parents’ house, but lucky for me, I have another week before I have to go to work!  We still have some more celebrating to do :)  I hope everyone had a merry and blessed Christmas!

We're all a little weird :)