Every year on Christmas day my family drives to Chicago to hang with my mom's brothers and their families. It's a totally laid back time where we can always predict what will happen, right down to the food. And I wouldn't change it for anything! If my uncle Steve ever stopped making his famous "ham sauce" it just wouldn't feel like Christmas to me. Although, actually this year we did try something different with the gift exchange. One game we played was that each person had to spend exactly $5.82 (or something, nobody could agree on what we had agreed on!) on a gift and then we did a "Christmas Greed" type of exchange game with it. The other thing we did was totally up my alley! Each family had to make a gift for everyone else (or each other family unit). I, of course, enjoyed making my gifts (I made bookmarks out of giant 4" paperclips topped with a fabric-covered button), but it was also really cool to see what everyone else came up with too!
Brittany (and Nate) took plastic decorating cone bags (frosting) and filled them with hot chocolate mix, marshmallow and chocolate shavings for a hot chocolate kit that looked like an ice cream cone. My Aunt Sue (Uncle "Breeze") filled Christmas bags with yummy homemade baked goods. My mom made candles/candle holders with beach glass surrounding them. My cousins (Aunt Diane and Uncle Steve) Ben, Alex and Eleanor made "Squirrel Cafes". These things are so fun! You can see it in the picture below. They made sure the "stools" were the right height so that squirrels can actually sit on them to eat the corn! The squirrels at my house are too dumb and haven't figured it out yet, but the squirrels at my parents have been taking FULL advantage or their new hot spot!
Ashlyn wearing my sunglasses. We all think that driving together is half the fun, so my dad rents a 15-passenger van each year.
Ashlyn and Mimia in the lobby of the Embassy Suites. We stay here every single year--creatures of habit? Yep! The kids LOVE the waterfall in the lobby. I think next year we'll put a roll of pennies in their stockings just for throwing in the waterfall.
Mac, Uncle Nate, Aunt Nini (Brittany) and Ash
We (and by "we", I mean Brittany and me) had a cookie decorating contest. Here are some of our "entries". Brittany won, but the vote was rigged ;)
God bless Uncle Steve--he let the kids make their own cookies. I didn't even let them do that at home because I'm a bit too particular about how the cookies turn out. Uncle Steve let them do their own thing to the point that Maguire's cookie was seriously just a big blob of dough. Uncle Steve baked it just as it was and the kids had a blast!
Now here's Uncle Steve making the most out of the blob. He turned it into a really cool fish! And then Ben came along, made a few decorating "suggestions" and then who knows what it was?! :)
Maguire wearing Ashlyn's new earmuffs!
My mom and Ben with one of the "Squirrel Cafes"--how fun is that?!
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