A Christmas Story - Part 2

The second important phase of our great big, week-long Christmas party is the gift giving and receiving.

Part 1 of this phase is pretty conventional. We do a gift exchange where everyone draws names except Mr. Right and I. On Christmas shopping day, the children open their gifts from this exchange before our big outing to ensure that they don't duplicate these gifts later in the day.

This picture didn't get everybody in but it gives you an idea of the atmosphere and the sheer numbers. I don't think there's anything much more fun than watching kids open presents. Oh, except maybe watching them pick them out.

They also open their one wrapped gift from us which is always a garment that is to be worn in the group pictures. This year I visited Columbia.com and purchased 38 jackets ranging in size from mens 4X to baby girls 6 mos.

Here's how those pictures turned out.

The kids

Everybody

After the present opening, we all packed up and headed for Valparaiso to have lunch at the Industrial Revolution. Picking up the tab for these 37 people is one of our gifts to the kids - pretty easy shopping right there.

We went here last year too and it was very enjoyable mainly because of the ambiance and the train that periodically runs around the entire restaurant at ceiling level. This year, however, neither the atmosphere nor the train could make up for the giant 'failboat' in service and food quality. From the time the first meal was served until the last one arrived was one solid hour. I realize we're a large group but if they couldn't handle it, they should not have taken the reservation.

After the very long lunch, we headed to Target where all the kids did their own Christmas shopping. We gave them a price limit of between $25 and $30 and they pick out the present or presents that they want. It all goes into our shopping carts and the kids won't see their gifts again until the presentation back at the house.

The next order of the day is the bribe. Nobody gets the gift that they picked out until we get the family picture. The cooperation level is incredible.

Beth started setting it up with assistance from Dan. She started with one.

And then children (and young adults) were strategically added.

Even the younger ones were patient and attentive.

Almost ready!

Add game faces and insert babies.

Finally, insert oldest granddaughter and sweet, young mother. And there you have it!

Now the gift presentation. An adult, usually Uncle Dan if he's not deployed, holds up an item at random and announces what it is. The owner claims it to applause and appreciation for his or her great choice.

And while we shopped, Harry and I grabbed a couple of the necessities that keep the Christmas House running smoothly all week.

This was a long post loaded with pictures but I wanted to share the experience. And most of all I wanted to remember it. I wanted to remember my pride in these beautiful children - how patient and fair and sharing and loving to one another they are. How from the oldest to the youngest everybody interacts.

And I wanted to share the fun. The week in the Christmas house is a joyous one and I hope this shows some of the reasons why.

But most of all I don't want to forget one facet of the week so I'm writing it all down. And I hope everybody that reads this will enjoy it as much as me.

A Christmas Story - Part 1

It's an extraordinary blessing that our family has grown so much over the years. It's incredible that each of our six children is married to someone they love and respect. And it seems like nothing short of miraculous that each of our sons and daughters has 3 or more children including at least one boy and one girl.

If there's a drawback to such an amazing set of circumstances, it's the challenge involved in getting everybody together at least occasionally. And that's why we strive to get as many family members here for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day as possible. With this time slot, we can celebrate Christmas and enjoy our traditional New Year's Eve party without worrying about family members driving home after imbibing one too many celebratory beverages.

This was one of those rare years when neither of our sons was deployed and no baby was born within days of Christmas making travel and an extended stay unpractical so we were within one person of being together as a family and it was awesome. The drawback here is that our house isn't large enough to accommodate such a large group. But on the plus side we have an excuse to rent a very large house in Beachwalk along with it's two bedroom carriage house which also has a kitchen and living room with pull-outs. The large loft and 7 bedrooms accommodate a lot of people and with our house and Beth's for back-up, there's more than enough room for everybody.

So what do we do during that week? Lots of things. Five years ago cousins Tessa Mary and Mary Addison were born exactly two weeks apart. We all look forward to them getting together as much as they do. One of their favorite activities is a princess style show and they play their parts perfectly.

Then, within 25 months beginning at the end of June 2008, we were blessed with five little boys - our posse. We all look forward to the changing dynamics of this adorable bunch of boys.

The two older of these five, Jack and Zac, really connected this year. They were inseparable doing important things and sharing everything from toys to ideas.

The next two, Trey and Eli, got along well too. They didn't play together quite as consistently but they always had good ideas.

Dane who just turned 1 in August wasn't quite ready to spend all his time with these guys but I'll bet next year he'll be right in the middle of the fray.

And who could have predicted that this past year we would be blessed with a granddaughter on October 1st and less than a month later, our first great granddaughter.

Before we know it they'll be having their own style shows.

Of course there were many alliances prior to this last group of nine. Noah and Ethan from Louisville are buddies.

and Anna and her cousin, Jenna, from Belleville Michigan are BFFs for sure - with or without their fashion glasses.

Katie from the DC area and Emily from Nebraska are close but Emily doesn't get to spend as much time here as we'd like because she spends time with her Dad in South Bend too. Here are Katie and Emily with our first 7 grandsons.

The two Nebraska brothers and the two boys from Colorado Springs along with Jeremy from Belleville and David and Matthew from DC also hang out together and play all the latest video games.

The one last grandchild is now the mom of our three great grandchildren and she hangs out with the rest of us grown-ups.

So it's a busy, fun week and not just for the younger set. The older kids (ours) get to spend some welcome time together too.

Here are our first two, Lori and Amy, in party mode.

And our middle two, Dan and Dave, in party mode, too (although they never seem to leave that Army officer persona far behind).

And finally our two youngest, Beth and Sarah, in Bing Bong mode. This was their best performance EVER. Someday I hope they'll let us record and post it - they brought down the house this year.

Of course lots of other things went on this week too. We had a birthday party for Trey and Mr. Right because both their birthdays are within a week of Christmas.

Cooking was always a joint effort.

We had ice cream cones every night, a tradition I borrowed from my mother who always made ice cream cones for the kids. Now, young and old line up to get their cones and it makes their grandma's heart swell with pride and love.

We also played poker every night. Since we were such a large group, we played at two tables side-by-side and rotated someone in and out of each table every 12 minutes. This system kept the crowed mixed and the game lively!

We did lots of other things too including going out for lunch TWICE, Christmas shopping, a rockin' New Year's Eve party, and just hangin' out and catchin' up. I'll write more about those activities in Parts 2 and 3.

For this post, I hope I've conveyed what an awesomely beautiful week it was and what a blessed mother, grandmother, and great grandmother I am.

Because it just doesn't get any better than it was that week!