MacGregor Family Christmas

(long post warning, with half a cazillion pictures…)

I can’t begin to tell you how much I love my family.  Growing up being the 3rd of 6 kids (2 girls, 4 boys, all of us close in age) was not always a picnic, but as adults, we are a good time!  It is so much fun when we all get together.  We made the trek down to So. Cal. which took us 23 hours total drive time, encountering ice, snow, white out conditions, and massive rainfall.  But we made it there safely and it was worth the drive to spend 2 weeks with my family.  I kind of time warp when I am home.  I sort of forget that I have a life outside of Ridgecrest, CA when I am there with my family, even though I haven’t lived there since June of 1999.

We stayed with my sister at her apartment while we were down there.  We had a blast playing games and watching endless Psych episodes on Netflix after the kids were in bed. The night we got in, my cousins from Las Vegas were waiting at my sister’s house for us!  I didn’t even know they were in town!  I haven’t seen them in I can’t remember how long.  But I know I haven’t spent any significant amount of time with them since I left Utah when Liah was a baby.  It was so fun to see them, and even though I sound like an old lady when I say it, I really can’t believe how much they’ve grown!  They’re teenagers now, which is so weird.

Here we are all playing Encore the night before they left to go back to Vegas.  It was so fun!  (which, despite some rumors, is one of THE funnest games out there.  And yes, I know “funnest” is not a word)

(Liah, Lorie, Marissa, aunt Annette, Aubrie, aunt Karen, my mom , Kylie, me, Ian and Kristen)

I felt bad that you can’t see Kylie’s face in the picture, so here she is in all of her teenage glory.  Isn’t she cute?!

The family just hanging out, wishing it was Christmas…

My girls finally got to meet Aunt Emily, who married my brother Gavin this past May.  My Emily was not too thrilled with me for not taking her with me when I went to the wedding in May.  But I think she made up for lost time by attaching herself to aunt Emily for the majority of the trip, whether aunt Emily actually wanted that or not… lol.  sorry, can’t help it when you’re popular…

Classic Emily…

One of the things that time warps me when I’m home is my old toys.  Here are Liah and my niece Serra playing with our old Lite-Brite!

Another happy thing about going home was the absence of ice and snow.  My kids were so excited to get to play outside in the spring weather.  (It was still a little cooler than I’d hoped, but I will take 60s over 20s any day, hands down.)

I absolutely love this kid.  Isn’t he cute?!  He is 2 1/2 this month, which is totally weird.  (side note: I finally graduated him from his crib to his toddler bed last night.  I did it all on my own.  He is loving his new found freedom, but it still makes me sad that my baby is growing up!) 

This shot is actually from Christmas Eve.  We went to my Grandma’s house (my mom’s mom) like we used to every Christmas Eve when we were kids for our annual ham dinner with my mom’s famous (and ridiculously delicious) potato salad, and of course the not so pleasant, but traditional rice pudding which has one hidden almond in it, and if you get it, you win a prize (29 years running, never won, friends, not once).  My sister in law, Christina won, and it was her first time.  We’re not bitter. And then of course the Nativity reenactment and singing of Christmas carols.  This is Addison “sitting” on his chair during the performance.  I think I was more entertained by him during the play.  He was hilarious.  He was pretty noisy saying things like, “My not have to be ki-et” and pointing at the fan on the ceiling, “How dat get up der?”

Liah was Mary this year, which she has been reminding me all year that it was her turn to play Mary this year.  Apparently though, back stage, there was a little drama on Liah’s part that she didn’t want to do it anymore because her veil kept falling off.  A couple safety pins later, and problem solved, and diva Liah was back to being thrilled with her role. (and there’s my grandma!  Isn’t she cute?)

Emmy was a shepherd, and a gorgeous one at that.  One of her shepherdly counterparts may or may not have been picking his nose and eating it throughout the entire performance. (*gag*) lol

Christmas eve…. see the presents filling up the entire side of the room?  That’s what happens when 18 people get together for Christmas!

Christmas morning….

The deal was presents no earlier than 6am.  My girls had been awake for at least 2 hours prior.  Liah was literally bursting at the seams with anxiety for when she could head down the stairs (yet again, time warp… the moments before we could check out our presents felt like an eternity!)  We all camped out at my parent’s house, so we would all be together Christmas morning.

Seany on the other hand, had to be woken up, which did not help his demeanor… but you can’t miss Christmas!

The girls got a CD player and an mp3 player.  Even though they hadn’t asked for it, they were thrilled!  Santa felt as they are getting older, they don’t really need any more toys.  (and have no fear, Santa is a bargain shopper…)  (and I haven’t heard the words “American girl” since Christmas eve…)

Addy and Sean both got Legos, or as Addy would say “Yegos.”

Emily got a David Archuleta CD (who is apparently her boyfriend, btw, even though I’ve tried to convince her that he is too old for her, although she’s been in love with him since she was 3) and Liah got a Taylor Swift CD (I caught her choreographing one of the songs with Emily in their room last night… lol).

Addison’s one request for Christmas was “nak-pish,” or goldfish crackers, for those of you who don’t speak Addison.  Good thing Santa came through.

My neice Serra got a cash register from Santa.  Everyone’s presents had to be scanned before we could move on to the next one. lol.

Oh, reactions.  Here is Liah opening a peace sign necklace from aunt Lorie.  I think she likes it…

For my brothers, I decided to give them all gift baskets that I put together with things I got couponing/deal hunting and I embroidered towels to line the baskets with.  I thought it was genius.

(Kim B., you will appreciate this one) Here is my brother Nathan’s toothpaste transfer kit (ask me sometime… it’s a good story)

Brandon and Christina got a BBQ night kit.

Ian and Kristen got a pasta night kit.

and Gav and Emily got a Home Improvement kit. (they just bought a house that they are constantly doing projects on)

Here they are in all their glory.  I was very proud of them.

Emily got “Sing Along with Barbie” from aunt Lorie

Addy got fruit snacks, and boy was he excited.

My kids are obsessed with a computer game called “Funkeys.”  (or “monkeys,” as Addy says) I ordered a ton of them off of ebay for really cheap.  Oh were they excited.

Gavin got my dad a present from dollar tree, and then a receipt for the present from dollar tree, and then a framed picture of his dog, Max.  So, so hilarious.  (not funny, you say? Also, another good story.  Ask me sometime.)  Probably the best part of the picture was the caption “Ruv ru rampa” on it. lol.  Nice one, Gav.

My grandma MacGregor was always the “favorite grandma” growing up when it came to presents.  You always knew you could count on her to give you what you asked for.  A few years ago, Emily said that Lorie was her favorite grandma.  lol.  This year, Lorie tipped my mom off on what the kids really wanted, and my mom was determined to win back the title.

And she did.  The girls both desperately wanted glitter balls, which I had no intention of getting them, and they knew as much.  Addison got puzzles.  He is a puzzle building fiend.  He will build the same 24 piece puzzle over and over and over (in the same hour) and not get bored with it.  So grandma added a few more to his collection.  He loves them!

It was Sean, however, who gave the reaction my mom was dying to get.  He has been asking for a green Zhu Zhu pet.  His wildest dreams finally came true Christmas day, thanks to the favorite grandma.

Yes! It’s just what I wanted!

My mom and I got Lorie a bread maker.  I dare say she loves it!  I made her a little recipe book with the recipes I use in my bread maker.  I used to think bread makers were cheating, but since I got mine from my neighbor’s yard sale a few years ago, I am a believer.

Ian is always good for a laugh when it comes to Christmas too, from the fake severed foot (sick, by the way) in Jeremy’s stocking (or the coal in my dad’s a couple years ago) to the Red Rider bb gun he gave Nathan.  Awesome.

We of course had our traditional Christmas breakfast spread of cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and sausage.  Yum.

Later, Lorie and my girls made a ginger bread Christmas tree.

I thought Addy’s position here was hilarious.

Sunday night, the day after Christmas, we had a sort of memorial service for my Grandma and Grandpa MacGregor with just our immediate family.  We each took a turn telling our favorite memory of Grandma and Grandpa.  My grandma was famous for always telling exactly what she thought (for instance, she thinks babies look stupid with pacifiers in their mouths and told me as much when Emily was 8 months old, with a pacifier in her mouth) and my grandpa was famous for his dry humor remarks that still make us bust up just thinking about it.  We each got a copy of his record that he made (he was a songwriter, too!) and we all played our instruments to a song that his Dad used to sing.  It was an evening of tears and laughter.  I sure miss them.

One of my best friends from high school was in town over Christmas break, too!  Since Sean had contracted pneumonia and a sinus infection at the begin of our trip, we weren’t able to get together until the week after Christmas. (that was “fun” by the way… the only positive side to that was how docile he was on the way down…) 

We hit up the rocket park with our kids, which no longer has a rocket, because it’s considered “dangerous” (which it may or may not have scared the lightning out of me when I was a kid, but still!)…

…until some creepy hooligan guy started talking to us about how much he liked the “holi-holi-holidays” and we relocated to Upjohn park…

 

4 are hers, 4 are mine and 1 is her brother’s

Keri and me!

(yes, I am holding 278 jackets and a glitter ball)

I also got to see another one of my best friends from high school, Kimmie!  We didn’t get a picture, but here is her daughter Danica and my Emily, who are pretty close in age.  They had a blast playing together in the balls at John’s pizza.

Jeremy and I weren’t sure if we would stay the full two weeks, but I am so glad we did.  It was so much fun.  New Year’s eve made it all worth it anyway.  Listening to my brothers do SingStar on the play station was. Hil.ar.ious.

Here they are doing an all-falsetto version of “The Final Countdown,” sporting their pink mullets.  I thought I was going to die.  I told you we were a good time.

Between shopping trips, lunch with all the girls, movie theater with Grandpa (we saw Tangled… it was so cute!), date nights, and countless games of Smerx and dominoes, it was such a good trip. 

One week later and I still can’t believe I’m back.  Time to get back to real life… whatever that is!