Christmas Celebrations

Since my family has a crazy schedule with my dad and brother working off and on in Alaska and my sister sharing custody of her boys with her ex-husband, Christmas with the Gardner family is never on the same day, at the same time of day and even the location changes. This year, we had Christmas dinner at my parents' house the Sunday before Christmas and opened presents with my nephews. We were supposed to have another Gardner Christmas at my Grandma's house with my brother's family when we traveled down to Oregon, but they ended not being able to come because of the snow. I decided that sending presents and not getting to see the recipient open the gift is not near as much fun as giving in person. Do you agree?

Christmas with the Marks family is much simpler. It's always on Christmas Day and is always with the same people and always at Kevin's parents' house in Grayland out on the coast. Kevin has one brother who is married with two teenage children. Add them to us, Kevin's parents and his Grandma, and it makes for a small, intimate family gathering (and I might add, much calmer and laid-back than the Gardner variety of gatherings!). Abby, being the only young child, was, of course, the star of the show and everyone (especially Grandpa Marks) enjoyed holding her and playing with her.

Abby looking pretty sitting on her Grandpa's lap.

Cuddling with Daddy.

Playing "this little piggy" with Great-Grandma.

As is tradition, we opened presents together and then later in the afternoon many of Kevin's extended family that live in the area came over for the big family meal. In the evening, it was back to just Kevin's immediate family and we enjoyed visiting and playing a game together before heading back home through the snow (that was the only abnormal part this year! =).

The next day we headed down to Dallas, Oregon with my parents to celebrate Christmas with my mom's family, but I will put up pictures of that in the next post because I have so many!

I always thought that 3-4 Christmas family get-togethers was plenty, but I read on my cousin-in-law Alysun's blog that they attended 6 in all this Christmas season! How many family gatherings do you usually attend? Do you notice differences in traditions at each gathering? In addition to the differences mentioned previously, some others that we've noticed in our families are that the Gardner family always eats ham and scalloped potatoes at a set time, whereas the Marks family has turkey and mashed potatoes whenever they get around to it; pies are always one the menu for dessert thanks to Kevin's mom at the Marks gathering, whereas cookies and candies are for dessert at the Gardner gathering (mainly thanks to my mom and a little to me!); and the Marks family gathering is an all day event, whereas the Gardner gathering is usually for a few hours, often in the evening. Please comment and share about your experiences, or at least vote in the poll on the left.