And So It Starts....

This past Saturday, we were able to get together with Nathan's side of the family for a gift exchange and supper. At least this year there was no ice/snow storm, and so we were able to enjoy the festivities at a decent hour (last year it took us 3 hours to drive a 35 minute drive, arriving past 9:00 pm).

Keziah and Lincoln (and us) were spoiled rotten again, with things like books, puzzles, games, trucks, cars, and most importantly, candy.

Unfortunately in the mad dash to get there on time (still was late....), I forgot the diaper bag at home. While the diapers were definitely needed, it was the camera that I threw in the diaper bag that was missed the most. And so the following pictures were taken from a phone. This means less than stellar quality. Oh well.

The best part of these evenings though is not the material gifts we've received, but time and memories made with our families. With lots of cousins (14 all together on the Helder side, with one more on the way in May, D.V.), as well as grandparents, there is always fun happening. We all more or less get along (or have learned to bite our tongues - some of us with bigger teethmarks on our tongues than others), and so do the kids. This is a blessing in itself! My brother in law is a paramedic and he has stated before that the number of domestic calls escalate during holiday time. While I can see why this can happen, it still is a sad reality. Thankfully though, so far when we've gotten together with Nathan's family, we haven't had to call the police or paramedics. Yet. :o)

Here is Kez with 4 out of the 6 girl cousins. At one time we had something like 10 kids under the age of 3. You can imagine how those years went (Kidding....while it felt like 10 under 3, I think it was around 6 under 3.). Now, the older ones clearly outnumber the littlest ones, and so it is really neat to watch them get excited for each other as they open gifts.

Later in the evening, a movie was put on. Here is Kez with 4 out of 7 boys. 3 minutes after the movie had started, Keziah was the only one left to watch while the boys went back to terrorizing a stuffed ladybug downstairs (hence the swords, bandanas and cowboy hats in the picture).

And so, the season of giving has started. And so has the overeating. Sigh. Good thing Jillian Michaels and I are on a first name basis.