Christmas- Part II

This Christmas we went to Bill's parents house and met up with his entire family- 4 other siblings, two other significant others and two dogs. I'm from a small family so holidays were never any different size-wise than any other day of the week. But here there is a certain energy that comes with the holidays- the energy of that comes with reunion.

Not to lose that energy for Christmas, we ended up engaging in the Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve so that his oldest sister, who was splitting her time up between her old family and new in-law family, could be part of the family Christmas gathering.

This year, to keep things in budget, we did a Secret Santa gift exchange instead of having everyone overspend for the entire family. Each person got a gift or gifts under $50, so everyone got a single something special. Bill and I, however, did give each person their own copy of a hand-drawn sketch of the family home (done by yours truly). Each one didn't cost more than the $5 Ikea frame so we didn't stretch too far over budget. :-)

(The annual family photo- reading from left to right: Liss, Sean, Mike, Deb, Sam, Jon, Mary, Bill, me and young Bill)