Christmas Passed...

...and it was great! A four day blitz of parties and celebrating.

I've been recovering all week...

With so much family to enjoy, we have to start early and stay late, so to speak, so our first party was on Thursday, the 23rd. We gathered with the Likkel Clan, sans Cameron, our niece who is currently in Africa...First time ever that one of us was absent! We've gone a long time without any absences, so we can't complain...but we did miss that girl!

The evening began with the opening of gifts from Mom & Dad, aka Grandma & Grandpa. The Likkels have adopted a unique shopping strategy for Christmas. In October, they hand out envelopes of cash to all of us. The rule is that you shop for your own gift -- but then you must wrap it and put it under their tree until our party. Shopping for multiple teens and adults was getting to be too much, but giving cash is so boring...This way they get to see what their dollars purchased, and no stress! It's fun for all of us to see what everyone chooses...and it's fun to shop for yourself during Christmastime too!

I was proud that Jess and I bought ourselves the same gift...He was somewhat intolerant of my enthusiasm...


Gosh, Erin...what is it???

(...a globe...)

Ever see someone so excited to open a box which contents are already known to her?
Love your enthusiasm, Tiffany!


Caitlin went for the red purse...Grandma would never have dared to buy that!


Then it was on to the stocking stuffers which were the subject of our formal meeting as to the stipulations and regulations of the conduct of this exercise...We seem to have a thing about rules...

We give each other such thoughtful gifts...
..comfy underwear...

...fake snot...
(Poor Jeffrey! At the tender age of 4, he earned a reputation of legendary mucus production when he had a bad cold during our camping trip...His cousins have never gotten over it...so consequently, neither can he.)

...and flutes you play with your nose.

I bet you all wish you had awesome rules like us. They produce such AWESOME gifts!

Herein, I must commend Jeffrey and his girlfriend, Kristen (looking cozy at left) for their bravery. This was the first time that Kristen had met most of the family...and it was quite the introduction! She did not shy away from our crazy antics and traditions, participating fully...Well, except for when we sang a rousing rendition of the Canadian national anthem to prove to Tiffany we knew all the words...but that was just because Kristen doesn't live close enough to the border to have learned them...yet. 
Kristen -- we'd love to have you back -- if you can stand it! ; )

At the end of the evening we handed over the big surprise for Mom & Dad...

...An album of all the pictures from their 50th wedding anniversary celebration.
It's such fun to make them so happy!

Another wonderful Likkel Family Christmas, full of laughter and good cheer...

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