December 10, 2013

You're Always a Kid on Christmas

Helene in Between

Okay, so I talked about this a little last year, but Christmas Eve is my all-time, hands-down, no contest FAVORITE day of the year, even as a kid.

No, not because I got presents. Although, that was pretty awesome.

No, not because Santa came that night. But he always knows exactly what I want, so yipee!

 Christmas 1999

Because I love my whole entire kooky extended family and being crowded into a small house with them.

 I definitely need to mention that, when I was a kid, a man that lived up the street from my Grandma dressed up as Santa and visited our house to hand out candy canes.

Christmas 2007

Some people may file this under an overwhelming nightmare. I, however, file it under my best memories.

 Christmas 2008

Every single year on Christmas Eve since I was born, we all gathered at my Grandma's house for Christmas Eve. Well, there was 2009 when we had to delay the party until the 26th because of a blizzard. That sucked.

 "Christmas" 2009

This tradition is all I know of Christmas Eve. In fact, I have an unfounded (because it's not happening anytime soon!) worry about getting engaged/married because I DON'T WANT TO SPEND MY CHRISTMAS EVE WITH A DIFFERENT FAMILY! Selfish? Maybe.

Christmas 2010

One funny "tradition": When my cousin Emily got married in October 2003, they used a bunch of tulle at their reception and had it leftover and didn't know what to do with it. Well, her husband, Lance, is a jokester and in Christmas 2004, when we had another engaged cousin, he proceeded to shove all the tulle in a box and disguise it as a present and regift it to my cousin, Marissa & her then-fiance Rob. Well, we thought after that it was gone. There were threats of "Be careful; we'll give ya the tulle". Turns out, it was still around and was regifted during Christmas 2008 to Stephanie and her then-fiance Pat. Let's just put it out there that this tulle may or may not still be floating around the family somewhere....

Christmas 2008

Okay, wait a minute, back it up, this link-up is about Christmas as a child. Back to that.

Christmas 1990

Christmas 1994

Like I said, we gather at my Grandma's. We pig out on food. We drink lotsa wine, lotsa beer (okay, and pop for the youngins). We laugh. We sit practically (and sometimes literally) on top of one another. We open presents from youngest to oldest and the more people reproduce the longer you have to wait for it to be your turn.

 Christmas 2010

When my brother and I were the youngest in the family (think 4 and 2), we helped every. single. person open their presents. It was the best.

 Christmas 1989

 Christmas 1995

This year for Christmas, my sister is surprising our Grandma by converting some of her old camcorder tapes into a DVD, including clips from Christmas. Here's a sneak peek of how my Christmas Eve looked as a child. Keep in mind, most of the grandchildren are married and have their own families now, so the family is like double in size.


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3 comments:

  1. i love that you have huge family gatherings!! that looks like such an absolute blast! (oh and don't forget to add your link to the link up on our blogs!! ;) )

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  2. I love your huge family! It is so sweet to have memories with so many people. I actually look forward to getting married and skipping out on my family's big celebration, it can be a little too much some years! haha

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  3. I love all the throw back photos. I too am terrified of someday getting married & having to split holidays. I love getting together with my huge family.

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