Christmas Celebrations #2 & #3

Jimmy's parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all joined us for a night of food and fun.  I cooked two different kinds of soup, and everyone brought various appetizers and desserts.  We always have so much delicious food!  I also made hot spiced tea, and of course we had soft drinks and lots of coffee.

We do not exchange gifts at this gathering, but some ladies like to bring homemade candies or baked goods for each family to take home.  We spent the evening visiting...for many of us, this is the only time each year that we see each other.  Our guests coming from the farthest away were Warren and Holly and their children--from the Atlanta area.  We enjoyed our evening so much!

Before everyone began to leave we attempted to take a couple of group pictures.
1.  The younger cousins.
2.  The entire family in attendance.

Here are the results!

Isn't this picture great?

The Family

Our final family gathering was held at Jimmy's parents' house.  His brother and sister and their families, his Aunt Julie, and Will's fiance's family all joined us for lunch and gift exchanging.  

Jimmy suggested a new meal idea--ordering Mexican take-out--and that was a hit!  We girls were glad to have a break from all of the holiday cooking!  I think that Mi Toro will be a new Christmas Eve tradition.  Christmas Eve is also Jimmy's mother's birthday, so we sing Happy Birthday before we begin the Christmas celebrating.  

Here are some pictures from this fun-filled day:

 Seth and Cody enjoying their Mexican dinner

 the present opening in full swing

 Megan gave me breast cancer survivor socks!  I'll have to wear them to a race some day.

 sweet Olivia

 Julie and Millie Janalee

 Sam with his new super-de-duper colored pencils!

 Pop and silly Sam

 Elle and Will

Cousins--just hanging out

I don't have any pictures of Jimmy's sister, Jenny, or his brother, Russ......I had great difficulty transferring the pictures from the day from Jimmy's computer to my laptop!  I know that Megan will have many, many great pictures to document the day.

We ate Mexican leftovers for supper, and then our family came back home to get ready for our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions......and I had a little surprise for everyone in our family!