And to all a good night.

Merry Christmas!

Our big Christmas celebration was last night. We had an early dinner with my family and then went to my husband's family's get-together later on. My family was laid back, quiet, only one kid around to open gifts. His family was loud, wrapping paper flying everywhere, kids screaming. You wouldn't want it any other way though, would you?

My mom's family came to Omaha this year so we got to spend our first Christmas with our little cousin Kyle. (He is the only cousin that my sister and I have, and he is four). My family always has a traditional dinner of Swedish meatballs and Swedish potato sausage. I'm not a huge fan of the potato sausage (it smells funny), but the meatballs are something I look forward to year round. My dad makes them and in my opinion they are the best meatballs on the planet. They're so good that one of the secret ingredients might be crack.

Then on to Matt's brother's house... Here hubs and his brothers with (most of) their kids:



This Christmas was wonderful. Having such a large family to celebrate the holidays with definitely makes a difference. I love being able to see all my nieces' and nephews' happy little faces while they tear through Christmas presents. It was a flurry of wrapping paper and screaming. Next year we'll have three more in the mix, for a grand total of eight. Yowza!

One of my favorite gifts I received this year was a bunch of Wilton baking goodies. I got a cookie press and a bake and carry set.



One of my favorite gifts that I gave this year was a photo collage that I made for a couple of the McG's.



Ya, ya. I totally stole that idea from several places. But in the spirit of the recession I decided to save some bucks and make it myself. It was also good practice with the macro lens.

After all the kids were bribed into going to bed we broke out the traditional bottle of Jameson. The family tradition is that everyone takes turns toasting to their worst memory of the year and takes a pull off the bottle. After it's gone around the room, it starts over again and everyone toasts to their best memory. This year we decided to start the tradition of finishing the bottle before the toasting was over. What a great tradition especially considering there was only seven of us doing the toasting. Who doesn't love waking up on Christmas morning with a whiskey hangover? We took a warmup pull, did our two toasts, and then went around the room again for an "honorable mention" toast. I was lit up like the tree by the time we were done.

Today we went back to my parents' for the big extended family lunch. It was chaotic. We didn't help the situation any by bringing our dog with us. For the record, I called first to make sure it was okay but the phone was busy and no one had their cell phones on. Matt and I left a little early to come home and nap and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, one of the best holiday movies ever made. My list of top Christmas movies are:

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
2. Scrooged
3. A Christmas Story
4. Home Alone
5. Mickey's Christmas Carol

Now we're having cocktails and watching movies we got as gifts. I think a leftover sandwich is also in my near future.