Every year, for as long as I can remember, we have had the tradition of celebrating Christmas with my mom's side of the family. It is one of my FAVORTIE traditions and last year, we moved the celebration up to Big Bear, since the group was getting too big for just one person to host. This last weekend, we had our Italian Christmas weekend and it was just so fun to be together!
Here were the highlights:
It snowed the day we arrived!
Being in the snow was so fun for the kids:
Eden having a snack before she began sledding:
Building a snowman:
The cousins:
(To the sweet sweet families that are in snow for large chunks of the year, I am so impressed by all that you do with getting wet clothes on and off, getting kids warm, burning off energy when it's too cold to be outside, running necessary errands, getting kids to school... We have it so EASY here in Southern California! We are really spoiled...)
Celebrating my brother-in-law Tommy's birthday on the 12th:
Celebrating my brother-in-law Tommy's birthday on the 12th:
We did lots of eating:
Our favorite orange bread!
The saran wrap game!
You unwrap treats while someone of rolling two dice and you keep unrolling the saran wrap ball until doubles are rolled. On Ryder's turn, he said "Let's make it shorter so that everyone can get some treats and candy." I swear, my mom, Kit, and I almost lost it, he was so cute and thoughtful!
Eden was pretty excited about the holiday flavored Dum-Dum's she got!
We decorated a gingerbread house:
(It was a package from Cost Plus and the icing was a hot mess...)
Ryder was frustrated that the candy wasn't sticking to the icing...
Me laughing about it did not make it better.
We spent an entire morning on a small path by the house, sledding and having a giant snow ball fight:
Snow angels:
Eden was really excited about making the snowballs until she realized that she loved eating the snow instead!
We went into Big Bear village:
We met a couple of special people for the first time:
We went to a favorite spot for hot chocolate and coffee:
"Mom, can I hug that bear?" Sure little man...
Lots of holiday pictures by the tree:
We do a gift exchange of a tasty $10 food item and every year, I think everyone walks away feeling like a winner. We had a talent show (Kit juggled and I pulled out my musical talents♥), and we stayed up talking and laughing and just enjoying that we could be in the same place at the same time.
I love these people so much and I LOVE that they are an active part of our lives.
We are better because of them!
We can't wait until we get to be all together again!
We love you all so much!
