Well, I didn't make my goal of posting all about our Christmas and New Years in two weeks, but I tried my best. I will keep at it until all the details of our end of the year fun are blogged about, though.
So, this one is all about our Christmases with extended family. So that we could spend time with all our family, we celebrated Christmas from early December to after New Years.
We started our Christmas-ing with Ma's family. Most of her side of the family lives close by, but three people in our family live very far away and this is the only time we get to see them!
My cousin, Jessica, lives in California while she's getting her Doctorate at UCLA
And my Uncle Ray and Aunt Gabby live in Maryland.
Here's my Aunt Sheila, Ma, Aunt Rhonda, and Uncle Ray.
Aunt Gabby with my Mom and her sisters.
Of course David wanted his picture with Gabby and Ma too.
Before eating and opening presents all the kids played. Rachael especially loved playing with what was my favorite doll as a little girl. Her name is "crying baby". When she was new [30 years ago] she had one of those criers inside that worked when you tilted her back, but it wore out years ago. I think my Mom had to sew her head back on several times and the poor thing is always having a bad hair day because I insisted on "fixing" it all the time. I loved her. A LOT. Because she's so special, Ma only gets her out at Christmas time. Rachael laid eyes on her and fell in love with her just like I did when I was her age.
Finally after all the waiting it was time to open presents.
Of course the kids loved all their gifts!
How many baby dolls does one girl need? We don't know. She hasn't reached her limit yet because she loves everyone she gets.
David got a pirate set from Aunt Rhonda and was SO excited about it. As soon as he put it on he was convinced he was a pirate. He ran all around the house yelling, "Arrrrgghhh!" many, many times. He kept everyone quite entertained.
A few days after Christmas we headed back to Ma's house to celebrate with Uncle Rich, Aunt Laureen, Ricky, Cate, Ma and Big Daddy.
After a delicious dinner and a quick wrestling match of all the kids against Uncle Rich...
Rachael needed to tend to a baby during the brawl.
Just the kids [Ricky, Cate, David, and Rachael] received presents this year. This was the first time we did this and I really liked it. It was a pleasure to sit back and watch the little ones' genuine excitement and happiness over each gift they opened. They also all showed interested in what the others received, which was nice too.
Christmas Cousins
Then after our fun New Years celebration [posted to come later], we stopped by Bing and Twinkle's house for a weekend with Ryan's family.
We got there in the afternoon and when the kids woke up the next day they were ready for presents! [as if they hadn't already opened enough]
Rachael gave Parker a good morning hug
And showed him how to make the Santa go down the chimney- a favorite game of all kids who come to their house.
David found his spot in the middle of the floor.
Ready to play with this...
And this...
Rachael liked trying on my two new scarves
All the Whitelaw Cousins
Whew! We had a great time seeing everyone for Christmas and receiving and giving lots of gifts. We did a lot of traveling, but it was worth it. But, the best is yet to come- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I'm not sure which was my favorite. They were both filled with pure joy and excitement!
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