Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas Part One ...

Since we don't live near our families, we have traditionally had three Christmases each year. First we celebrate with my mom and sisters. Then, we have Christmas morning at our house. And finally, a day or two after Christmas, we open gifts for a third time with J's family. Oh, and somewhere in there we take our annual week-long Christmas vacation (we take our kids on vacation in lieu of gifts).

As you can imagine, this makes for a very hectic December.

This past weekend was Christmas Part One for us. Everyone met at my little sister's house for a weekend full of food, gifts, baking, laughing and crazy Christmas shirts. The festivities began with dinner out. Afterward, we decorated the Christmas tree.


And posed for pictures (some not as successful as others).


In the morning, we opened gifts (which I failed to take a single picture of) and started our baking marathon,


while wearing these shirts (Note: that is Dizzle's finger in the picture).


And over the course of 24 hours, my hair went from this,


to this,


and finally, to this.


Yeah, no one said we were normal.

18 comments:

ashley rebekah said...

love the purple! you rock it, girl.

Tricia said...

I'm going to spend the 24hr drive back to Tx crying that I didn't get to see you :(

(Worse that I'm totally to blame)

Unknown said...

Where will you go on vaca? I am a big fan of a trip instead of gifts...I have not convinced my family however :(

Marlene said...

Looks like FUN! I kind of love celebrating Christmas multiple times among all the families.

Kathy said...

so fun - love the hair! Christmas 3 times! Your kids must be thrilled! Juggling family and holidays can be so busy!!

erindegroff said...

Love the Christmas sleighs and the hair! You are a rock star!!

Jason said...

normal is boring.

And before I scrolled down far enough for the ever changing hair I stopped at the blue hair shot and said to myself wasn't her hair a different color earlier on?

Looks like you have a great time together and that is awesome.

Runners Fuel said...

Love the purple!!

Jen said...

Love the blue/purple hair... and really dig your tradition!

Laurie said...

That looks like a lot of fun! I loooooove the purple, looks awesome!!

Aimee said...

Yay! I love it! It looks and sounds like so much fun!

Anonymous said...

I love that you do vacation in place of gifts... we're at the stage of setting up traditions right now (one toddler) and want to de-emphasize gift-giving. Fun traditions!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

Looks like FUN!! Wow purple...I was sorta hoping for mistletoe green :)

Michele said...

This is so awesome! Are you one of 4 sisters? I am as well! Your family seems great - and I love the holiday tradition that you guys have!!

Beth said...

I love that you do trips rather than presents. What a great gift to give your children!

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

What wonderful hectic-ness! I love family traditions!!

No wonder J is always smiling. It's like he has got a new wife every couple of days! ;-)

workout mommy said...

it looks like such a fun time!!

Melissa said...

Looks like a great time!