The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Christmas

Every other year it's my parents' turn to get my sisters and their husbands and now their grandkids for Christmas...(the in-laws flip-flop Thanksgivings and Christmases with them).   Lucky for my parents, they get us every holiday because we live so close.  This was the wonderful year that everyone comes to the lovely place that is South Jersey to convene for a multi-day feeding fest, mass chaos, and endless cookie baking and eating.  Every year I feel meal time gets closer to the pizza scene in Home Alone.

I will try to curb the obnoxiousness of over picture sharing, although the overall cuteness is bumped up twenty notches with cousins thrown into the mix now.  Plus, I got a new camera (a Canon Rebel xs) and now that I don't have shutter delay, it is so much easier to capture the memories that I want- and not the memory 4 seconds after I want like with the point-and-shoot.  Eh...  you can deal, right?

First, I will introduce you to my family so you can enjoy the pictures more.

 This is my younger sister, Robin and her husband, Jason, and Santa...but we'll get to him later.  They live in Massachusetts while Jason is in seminary, although they are anxious to get back to what we all refer to the "Promised Land" (aka South Jersey.)  

 This is the baby bump that is Judah who is due to arrive in early April.  

This is my older sister, Amy and 5 month old Micah.  They live in South Carolina with...

         

 my brother-in-law Jared, who hates pictues, but loves his two sons-  four year old Jesse who was officially adopted from the foster care system this past November, and Micah.

 This is my brother Gregg, who I don't think owns a shirt that he hasn't cut up to show off his manly physique. :o) (And Micah again....EVERYONE likes to hold him.)  

  Then, there's my dad who loves to tell stories.  

 And my mom who Jesse named "Little Gramby."  My mom makes a lot of jam, so sometimes he calls her "Little Jamby."

Ok...now enjoy the overall jubilation and adorableness....

Jesse the Pirate.  Note the candy cane earrings and guns tucked into the pajamas.  

And what makes Christmas better and even MORE fun when you have to dress toddlers and a baby?  That's right...costumes!  

And yes, that is in fact a leg lamp.  

Cookies for Santa.  

And then Jason and Robin got Jesse and santa costume so he could be cool like Pop-Pop.  

He loved it.  And we loved him in it.  

And then...we were all matchers for Christmas- Everyone had matching jammies, although the boys didn't want to pose for a picture.  

My dad made the kids a pirate ship.  

After all the presents were open, the real fun began.  

And we had to be very vigilant so Molly and Josiah didn't destroy the tree like they did at our house.  (Gramby and Pop-Pop's tree wasn't in a playpen.)

It was a very, very, very fun morning.  Couldn't have been any better...

And then came the afternoon.  You know...I don't think I want to ruin this lovely post with the ugliness that was Christmas afternoon.  I'll leave you with the warm fuzzies and tell you about the unfortunate events later.    

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and could enjoy it being surrounded by the people that you love!