Christmas 2017 | Five family celebrations

Here it is exactly one month after Christmas and I am finally sharing photos! Christmas 2017 was so busy, and I loved it. Our first celebration was hosting a few from Justin’s side for Christmas dinner and gifts with the kids. I was so excited to be able to have people over and use some of the things we were gifted for our wedding. 🙂

On Christmas day, we celebrated with Mom, Dad, Karley and Squirt at Mom and Dad’s. It was a relaxed day with plenty of laughs and lots of food. Jared joined us for lunch. We chose to do a Mexican theme. Karley made some fajitas, and we used those to make quesadillas and tacos. It was delicious. Mom and Dad gave me a drone and I tried to spend the rest of the day mastering it. However, I definitely clipped Justin in the head and almost hit my mom in the face. (Whoops!)

The following week/weekend was crazy busy! Family from my Dad’s side started arriving on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday and Thursday were spent at my Grandpa and Grandma’s house just visiting with family. We all (like 30 of us) went to dinner Thursday night, and then Squirt spend the night. Usually when he stays, we do crafts and make breakfast, but it was such busy week that we snacked on some Poptarts and he played with some Play-Doh before heading over to Grandma and Grandpa’s.

Friday night we had Christmas with my Mom’s side of the family. Good food, great people and such a good time. There was so much laughter. I love how we all squeeze together in one room and take turns opening presents. 🙂 Squirt usually opens all of his first so he can play while we all open ours. Shawn and Julie gave him a virtual reality kit that lets him explore the ocean, see dinosaurs and so much more. He was so excited to show it to everyone, including Mema and Papa!

Saturday was CRAZY. We had family photos with my Dad’s entire side at 10 a.m. Then we went to Justin’s Aunt Denise’s house for lunch to have Christmas with the whole Bredehoeft clan. We do a white elephant gift exchange after we eat, and it’s always funny to see who is going to steal what. The last gift opened each year if the Grandma Gift. Justin’s Aunt Diane explained that their mom always opened her present last on Christmas, and so the gift is in honor of her. If you were given the gift the year before, it’s your turn to bring a gift for someone else the next year. There have been gag gifts–like the year Justin gave his cousin Becky name tags since she would frequently confuse him and Jared–and nice gifts, like the wine glass that says “Sweet Talker” that Justin was gifted the Christmas after he proposed. This year, Justin gave his cousin Shelly’s fiance Caleb a beard-care kit. Both the boys are redheads with beards. 🙂

After we left Denise’s house, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Christmas with Dad’s side. (Told you Saturday was crazy). I love watching the little ones open their presents, and how excited they get. There were gag gifts, sweet gifts, and everything in between. Books for the baby’s, bug suckers for the little boys, and a bag of diaper’s for Sam. Yes, you read that right. Austin gave Sam a Diaper Genie bag of their little one’s dirty diapers. And one little Slytheran threw the Dark Mark into the sky. It was an eventful evening.

I love spending so much time with family. They are all some of my favorite people, and it is one of the most treasured times of the year.

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