Waiting until later has its advantages. The primary one is that all the other Christmas gatherings are done. Families don't have to pick and choose who they are going to visit with, or run around from one place to the other on Christmas day. The kids who are in public school have Monday and sometimes Friday off which makes for a nice long weekend for the family gathering.
This year we were missing some family. Their absence was felt, and made our celebration feel a little off at times. But with nine kids in the house there really wasn't much time (or quiet) to reflect on the absences.
The cousins played and played and played. Nolan and Jude are especially close, and it was hard to find them apart. Saturday was our big celebration day. We had a big breakfast of pancakes with strawberry topping and sausage. Then we opened presents, and got everyone cleaned up quick to head to the movie theater. Since someone looked at the movie times wrong....we had a bit of time to kill. We shopped at a local bookstore that had tons of books marked down to $1. I brought a bag of books home with me. Then we saw Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
After the movie it was time for the best part of our gathering. Not holding much to traditional holiday foods, we have Seafood Stew every Christmas along with homemade rolls, and cheesecake. Eating great food is better than presents any day in my book! The kids may not agree.
Below are a few pictures from our morning. And yes, that is my real Christmas tree still up. I'd like to say that I carefully preserved it in order to have it up for our celebration. Truth is I just never took the time to take it down. It is starting to look pretty sorry.
It looks like you guys had fun!!
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