Dizzy Dandelion: Cravens

Christmas was far better than I expected this year. I've had enough crummy Christmases that I worried. Nope. This one was good. Starting with waffles and cartoons Christmas Eve morning. Plus some yoga and housecleaning (sadly, the vacuum cleaner broke halfway through the first room -- humbug).

The evening was spent with my favorite cousins. Hooray!!

Nativity populated entirely with tiny humans for the first time since my brothers and I were kids.
Finally!!

Uncle Martin does a great job narrating

This tiny babe was everyone's favorite. Her mom even let me hold her for a little bit.
There is no sadness in the world that holding a tiny baby can't cure.

My nieces and nephew are the coolest.
(Also, they remind me a lot of their dad. A LOT.)

Aaron played guitar while his girlfriend Anna sang. She has a lovely voice. He is smitten.

My cousin Bryce invited a girl for the first time ever. Isn't she pretty? Doctor, too.
We're trying not to be too pushy ;)

There's a reason I look forward to seeing these people. And talking with them.

Relationship goals

Taking sweater cutes from my mom

Christmas morning, Dave and I ate breakfast with Mom and Dad, then spent a few hours helping Mom prep for the big afternoon meal so that Mom wouldn't have to worry about it when everyone else arrived to open presents. Dad took the opportunity to remove snow for the second time that morning. Hooray for new snow on Christmas!

Perfect American breakfast for the perfect American family (2 kids - one boy and a girl. If only, Dave!)

Mom says this is the first time the money bread has ever come out of the pan perfectly.
Had to document it!

When it came time to open my gifts, I was far more spoiled than I ever expected. My parents are so generous to all of us. I don't deserve them.

Dad gave all the families a package with chicken sausage and ham. He also gifted us with Red Lobster biscuit mix, campfire roasting sticks, puffy vests for the boys, and sweaters for the girls. My dad is a true original, and sweetly thoughtful.

Mom made PJ a Busy Book. She said she made most of it up, so she'll never be able to recreate it. I may make her try to recreate it for me anyway ;)

A package of Red Vines bigger than Dave's head. Haha!

Now for some gorgeous shots of children:

This little guy wasn't feeling very well, but it didn't keep him from eating most of a package of graham crackers

The girls had quite the group of helpers to put together their new Lego sets

Mom's turkey dinner was delicious, and I especially love cherry pie

I stayed up past midnight and listened to as many Christmas songs on FM100.3 as I could before they clicked off. This year, they kept playing Christmas songs through the next day. Haha! I'm so glad. I love Christmas music. I wish it played a little longer every year. I will listen to "Feliz Navidad" over and over and over again as long as they will let me.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. I know I did!

I didn't take many photos over the holidays this year*. I just enjoyed being with people I adore and drinking in the future memories. Christmas Eve and Day were two lovely, peaceful, happy days. Just as they always should be.

Christmas Eve

My mother's brother and sister-in-law returned from their mission this year, so they reinstated the combined Christmas Eve celebrations. I'd missed my cousins, and it's so fun to see how our family has grown in the three years since we last celebrated together. Two new spouses and four new babies! Thank goodness the new house accommodate everybody!

I love that we have an actual kid-sized kid's table!

The G-unit plays "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" while his sisters sing along

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus

The Nativity -- we almost have enough kids to do it without making the adults dress up, too...
Almost. (Thank goodness for cool uncles)

Having a real baby sit in for baby Jesus makes the whole thing that much more poignant

My darling sisters-in-law

Adam's family sang a song they had made up about Zonks's stuffed unicorn, Uni. Here, Dave and Aaron model the Uni decals the Jr. Smyth's wore while singing.

Best cousins talk about their respective medical school experiences

Christmas Day

Extended-family schedule juggling was complicated as usual (thank goodness there were no conflicts for Christmas Eve), but we all came together in time for my sisters-in-law, mom and I to help out with Christmas dinner prep while the boys distracted the kids. We opened presents in shifts based on when people arrived -- before dinner and after. This turned out to be nice because it didn't go on too long and no one had hurt feelings if they had fewer gifts than others. That night, the adult siblings and the G-unit played card games and laughed a lot. Oh, and there was plenty of traditional junk food.

It was a great day.