Ok I warned you a took a bunch of photos this week! So I'll start with Christmas Eve in Green Forest with Jamie's side of the family. After Jamie got off work on Friday we loaded up the girls in the car and drove over to meet with all of Jamie's mom's brothers and sisters and their kids and grandkids.
Everyone gathered in a community building in Green Forest (the American Legion room) and it was a great place to fit all the tons of people and have room for the kids to play.
And Audrie does require some extra room to burn off energy so it was perfect.
Here are Aunt Barbara's 'boys'- her husband, Mike, and her two boys Michael & Ryan. It was great to have them all in from Texas.
More guys of the family here who are thrilled that I'm taking their photo... (Chalona's husband, Steve, and Brenda's son Taylor.)
This is the look Johnny gave me when I asked him to smile for the camera... (and Brenda's other son, Evan.)
Debbie's son, Cory, who Audrie adores and talks about nonstop. (Audrie was literally saying "cheese" in this shot.)
Aunt Barbara and baby Annie. (Barb was a bit of a baby hog. Not that I minded at all!)
Jamie's mom, Donna, with her sister Brenda.
Audrie was nice enough to help everyone open their presents.
Jamie's sister, Chalona.
Audrie helping Donna open her presents.
Of course there was TONS of yummy food. I had been looking forward to it all week. Jamie's family has the exact same meal for every Thanksgiving and every Christmas. And I love it every time!
I didn't count but if I had to guess I would say there were about 35 people there.
Poor Annie looks awful lonely at the end of the table. (Actually she's just glazed over from the mashed potatoes and gravy I let her eat off my plate. Yum!)
The four of us! (Not a great picture but happens to be the only one I got of the four of us this Christmas.)
Audrie got some really wonderful gifts from everyone. She really does a great job of appreciating presents and saying thank you, etc. I was proud of her.
But the showstopper was definitely the tea party set she got from Keeton. Audrie was SO excited about the whole ensemble! I didn't get a good picture of everything, but it has a hat, feather boa, white gloves, pearls, and of course the tea cup set.
Annie got many great gifts, too! Of course she just slobbered on everything but that's ok.
Here is my attempt to grab Audrie mid run and pose for a photo!
Here are her little white gloves and pearls that she wore all night.
Audrie trying to convince Keeton to join her tea party. She was cracking everyone up with her crazy antics as usual. But the highlight was when she made everyone stop and say a prayer to thank Jesus for the tea.
Melanie and Kevin's daughter, Kameron, who I gave my camera to and asked her to snap photos of people for me.
Here is one she took of Tiffanie and her two boys, Dylan and Jess.
Annie showing off her new ability to clap her hands. (Annie had a costume change into her Christmas pajamas.)
This next photo cracks me up because you can see all our feet standing around like "who's kid is this anyways??".
Aunt Pat and Casey.
Aunt Wendy and her adorable puppy, Buddy. Who Audrie chased around all evening.
Brandon modeling his drink cup.
Cory giving us the stare down.
Tiffanie's son Dylan (about the same age as Audrie).
Brandon and Erin being cute as can be.
Tiffanie's younger son Jess. And it sounds bold to say- but he actually may have more energy than Audrie!
Donnie's son Trevor and his girlfriend Olivia.
After dinner we all played a game of Dirty Santa using $25 gift cards (sealed in white envelopes) that we each brought. It was really fun!
Donna and Pat had a tug of war over the Farmville gift card (which I didn't even know existed!).
Jamie trying to guilt Jim into handing over his Academy Sports gift card.
Everyone really got into the game. This is the first year we've done that with Jamie's family and it was great.
Even Buddy thought so! :)
After the game everyone cleaned up and headed home. It was such a wonderful Christmas Eve with Jamie's family. We drove back home that night so we could get things ready for Christmas morning with our girls! (stay tuned for those photos)
