For the first time in many years, our entire family was together on Christmas Day. When we gather together, there is certainly no food shortage. After opening gifts, we headed to the tables packed with food & piled up our plates & stuffed our bellies. There was so much to try, I never even made it to it all! For several years, we have made it a ritual to spend time in singing Christmas carols/songs. Everyone tells their favorite or names one they like & we sing song after song. Doing so, is by far, the highlight for me each year. I think it's interesting to see what songs people choose too. I discovered that my cousin, Micah, & I share a love for the same carol--O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Once the singing had come to an end & my cousin Josh & his family were headed out, my cousin Chanda & her family were coming in. Perfect timing for a group/family photo. Haley set up her tripod, got us all posed, set the timer & we grinned big. Only bad part was my cousin Darren & his family had not arrived yet. So, we lacked 3 in the picture. I laughed as my little cousins tried to pull me up off the floor. I don't think they realized how heavy I am! We then picked our seats for our annual BINGO session. Each family purchases 10 $1.00 items, wraps them up & the winner of each BINGO round gets to pick a prize. Amazing how we went from giving pens, paper, etc. to everyone pretty much purchasing food items for prizes! I had my 4 year old cousin Adri on my lap & helped her play her cards along with mine. We each finally won & got our prizes. The time had come for Chanda, Mike & the kids to head back to KY, everyone else was ready to go & all that was left was to clean. Everyone pitched in to wash dishes, dry them, move tables, put chairs back, etc. We gave our hugs, wished one another a Merry Christmas once more & that was the end of Christmas 2007.
