Christmas Eve with Family

We rounded up Christmas Eve at my mom's house. For my whole life, my mom's side of the family has come together for Christmas Eve. We have done it at my mom's for the majority of the last several Christmas Eve's, but when we were kids we would go to the house of whoever had the youngest child to make it easier on the baby. Since I am the only grandchild that has started having babies so far, I have the youngest! My mom was there, Uncle John and Cousin Ryan; Aunt Trish and Cousin Laura; Aunt Kim and Uncle Jason and their 3 kids--Michael, Matthew, and Ian; my mom, of course; Jon and I with our 3 children; and the matriach of the family--my grandmother, Pat. A friend of the family for 25+ years, Keith, was there as well. My mom had quite a spread of food, so there was lots of eating, drinking, and being merry. The kids opened a couple presents. My mom got the 3 Smith boys air rifles, so that was sort of the hit gift of this Christmas Eve. Don't worry. They were wearing goggles, so as not to shoot one another's eyes out. :) My husband, after a couple shots of Patrone, thought it would be a good idea for one of them to shoot him since it isn't supposed to hurt that much. Silly men. My favorite gift was from my aunt Trish. She made a beautiful necklace for me. I LOVE homemade gifts, even though I rarely make any myself. They just require so much more effort than the standard gift card. She also gave me the book Wicked, which will be next on my "to read" list. I love spending Christmas Eve with my family! After everyone left, we got the rest of the presents wrapped and under the tree. We only made it to bed at about 1:30 in the morning. Christmas--here we come!