Five Christmases

Have you seen the movie "Four Christmases"? If you have not, I highly recommend seeing it for many great laughs. I mention this movie because my life at Christmastime is very similar. Only thankfully, I do not have to do all of the family gatherings in one day. I am blessed be able to spread it through the week of Christmas. Sometimes it is over a span of two weeks, depending on every one's schedules. As stressful as it can be trying to remember the days, times, what to bring, gifts, etc, I love it. Love getting a chance to have the family together. Love the great food (my waistline does not!). Love playing with my nieces and nephews. Love watching my kids play with their cousins. Love catching up with family members.

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Due to the high volume of Christmas gatherings, this post will be long. I will try my best to whittle down as much as possible the pictures.

Gray Family

This is with my mother-in-law's side of the family. For many reasons, this year was much smaller. But we all still had a great time and the kids played and played. So much that I felt like my kids were not even there! This picture does not show Joshua....he just was not in the mood to have his picture taken. I'll just leave it at that. I love my 2 year old! :)

Cantrell Family

The next family gathering was with my father-in-law's side of the family. Julie (my sister-in-law) and her family could not make it down from VA this year, so it was just my two kids. It was so strange not having 6 kids running around the house. But Jason's cousins Amber and Troy made up for that and played so much with them. Thank you both for doing that!

Sammi and Josh with their great-grandfather (Poppie)

Troy (Jason's cousin), Haley (Troy's fiance, Amber (Jason's cousin), Jason, and me. After seeing this picture, I am never wearing that unflattering sweater again!

Mauk Family

Every Christmas Eve, we spend the evening at my mother-in-law's house. Again, without Julie and her family, it was strange just having my two kids there instead of 6. In the past we always wore our pj's, but the past couple of years not everyone did. But I kept my kids in them. It makes it much easier to take them straight to bed after a long night.

TJ (Jason's step-brother), Kelsey (TJ's girlfriend), and Travis (Jason's step-brother)

Joshua giving his Grandmommy (Jason's mom) a kiss.
Great-Grandmommy (Jason's grandmother), me, and Jason. I love his Grandmother! She is an amazing woman that makes me feel like her own granddaughter.

Jones/Rodriguez Family

First, I have to say how lucky I am that my parents, who are divorced, get along so well! We combined my dad and mom's Christmas gatherings and spent the day at my dad's house. It was so nice and as always, the cousins played and played.

I love this picture! My mom gave the kids these huge stockings filled with everything they love. She has always been great when it comes to filling stockings with great things for each person.
Ahhh, my second favorite picture. You can't have a day go by without a 2 year old crying because he didn't get his way. A constant in my house right now, but I love looking at this picture. It makes me laugh! You can see Jason on the side trying to get him to stop. Ha!

The cousins with their reindeer hats. Notice someone missing? That seems to be a trend doesn't it?

Granddad (my dad) with his grandkids.

Our Christmas

Sammi putting out Santa's milk and cookies. She put out reindeer food (oats and glitter) in the backyard.
I love this picture of Sammi. It is exactly the reaction we had hoped for when she saw her very own Barbie Dreamhouse. After staying up until 2 am that morning putting it together, I had visions of what my poor parents went through when I was a kid. Thanks mom and dad!

All Joshua asked Santa for was Mack from the movie Cars. He barely stopped playing with it to open more presents.
Joshua also got from Santa a tool workbench. I think I saw Jason shed a tear watching him play with all of the tools. :)

What a mess!

Whew! I am tired from typing so much and messing with all of the pictures. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas filled with joy!