Family Christmas

One of my favorite things about Christmas time is seeing all of the aunts, uncles & cousins from my Mom's side of the family. My mom is one of 9 children and all but 3 of the sisters still live within 30 mins of the place they were raised. So I grew up with all of them, as one of the 4 little girls.

We use to gather at the farm (Grandma & Grandpa's house) at Christmas. Of course as we grew older the kitchen & living room weren't big enough to hold everyone. So each year a different sibling would be the host/hostess. As the cousins started getting married and having their own children we started renting a large banquet room and the siblings would take turns playing host.

I cannot imagine growing up away from these people. I hope that someday we have children who can grow up knowing their great aunts, uncles, second and third cousins. I keep wondering what they would do if I showed up with Buddie. Lol....it wouldn't fly.

Today, I was talking with one of my cousins who is a senior in college. She was there with her boyfriend and talking about their plans for the future. As we looked out over the tables she said I can't believe how fast everyone is growing up. I looked at her and said yup and we're saying the same thing about you.

The best part about the day besides seeing everyone was that Boyd was able to attend and one of my favorite cousins and her family were there. He and Boyd are able to talk sports which is nice - since there are only 8 sports fans out of the 33 people there.

The bad part about the day was having to say good-bye. The lunch goes by to quickly and with the bad weather we were only together for an hour and a half. Every year it seems like we say hello, sit down and talk to the people you sit by and then everyone is ready to leave.

Even though we live close we rarely get together out side of Christmas. We always talk about having a game night, pool time, or craft night and it never happens. I guess I'll have to take charge and plan something.