The Hilarity of Motherhood: Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve, for 18 years, we have gone over to Weenie's parents house for Christmas. It has ALWAYS been chaotic, but as the years pass and the family grows, things get crazier and crazier! Weenie comes from a large family to begin with. Weenie, being the oldest of 5 boys, is used to the craziness...however, it has taken me MANY years to become accustomed to it. I'm the type of person who likes things quiet and I tend to be on the "wallflower" side of life. Now that four out of the five are married and ALL the married couples have children, it has forced me to face the very thing I fear....social disorder. Why do I fear this? BECAUSE I'M A WALLFLOWER! There is no better explanation than that....

We arrived at the in-laws house at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I believe we were the last ones to arrive. Since the family is 20 people strong (and another member on the way), the front room where the Christmas tree was located, was FULL of presents. I swear, it looked like Santa's Workshop exploded in there. Since the family was WAY too large to conduct present destruction INSIDE the house, we decided to do it on the patio. Although it was 60 degrees, the heaters and fire pits were set up (you know us Arizonians...we have VERY thin blood) all around the gathering place. I believe we may rethink that move next year. Heaters/fire pits + 8 children (all 8 years and younger) = STRESS! Despite the added stress of open flame and children, we all had a blast! It took about 3 hours to open all the presents (the family has a tradition of watching each person open each present...the order is from youngest to oldest), but it was fun! Here's a snapshot of what it looked like....

Yes, I know, the picture is dark and blurry, but I think it was rather impossible to take a picture IN focus with correct lighting. Every second of the night, there was SOMEONE chasing a child or moving about to get goodies. This picture was taken as various people were passing out the loot. See all the presents? You're only seeing a FEW piles...you're also only seeing about half the family. Get the idea yet? I hope so!

The children made out like bandits (of course). There were books, clothes and toys EVERYWHERE...and I think every single toy was a NOISY one. There were cars reving and racing, baby toys squeaking and talking, a niece in tap shoes (yes...that was MY fault for buying her those), adults talking/yelling at the children and the crackling of firewood in the fire pits. Ever been to a concert? You know the dull ringing in your ears AFTER the concert is over? Yeah...that was me by the end of the night (yes, I'm exaggerating a bit).

My wonderful father-in-law snapped this shot of the boys.

Remember me saying something about children and fire pits? Well, Toblerone decided to go play in the ashes. I thought I had gotten all the soot off of his face, but apparently, that wasn't possible. It appears as thought Triscuit was on the verge of standing on his tip toes to see over Toblerone's head!