Christmastime Is Here

Has everyone had a good Christmas? I know I have because I haven't posted for a week! I've been having just too much fun spending time with my family. That's one of the best parts of the holiday season, I think, because everyone goes out of their way to be with you, and you go out of your way to be with them. I am writing to you from my Grandpa's computer in California where we've been for the past couple of days, along with all of my dad's brothers and sisters and their families. It's been pretty crazy, but we like to think of it as "organized chaos".

One of the best moments of our trip was on Christmas morning when my sister announced suprisedly to my mom after opening her Nintendo DS game system, "Santa's really gone electronic this year, Mommy". That just about made my day, aside from the "You're married!" ornament given to my newly-wed cousin with the names "Daniel and Jessica" inscribed on it when in fact her new hubby's name is David. Her mom was horribly embarrased, but we all laughed and decided it was something my aunt would do anyways!

Santa didn't realize we were away from home, so supposedly there are more presents for us there, but Dad could just be pulling my leg. This has been one of those years where we've had several different Christmas mornings at different houses where different relatives live. We had the actual Christmas morning at Aunt Diane's house, a pre-Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's, another pre-Christmas at our house so we could thank our grandparents for the gifts they sent us*, and then our post-Christmas at home. We haven't had a Christmas away for a while, so it was fun to be with family during this special time of year.

Of course, our Christmas festivities were not complete without the watching of Elf on Christmas Eve night under the Christmas tree in a "mosh pit of cousins". Santa didn't come until late, because all the kids were up until at least one o'clock. Ahhhh, good times! We would not be tamed.