Christmas Day

We began with some gift opening. The aftermath...
One of the best parts of Christmas...the Danish Pudding Loaf (thanks Grandma M. for that!)
And the highlight of my day...the kids! I am soooooo thankful that my life has turned out the way it has. Being as I don't yet have a family of my own, I get to spend time cultivating my relationships with the family I do have. My family is my world you see. I spend a lot of time brainwashing the kids into believing I'm "favorite Aunt Juli". It works like a charm. They all learn my name pretty well (thanks mom and dad for a name kids can say and one that sounds so cute when they are little). It's also fun that they come over to grandma's and immediately start looking for me. "Where's Juli?" LOVE IT! Point of the story...so today my three year old niece got a little people family from my mom and dad. She was playing with them and saying this is the grandma, this is the dad, this is the baby sister, etc... Well, she stops and says "where's the Aunt Juli?" ha ha ha ha ha. It gets better. This set had a grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, teenage boy, teenage girl, little girl, and an ambiguous gender baby. She has a big brother and a baby sister...so...this worked perfect. I got to be the teenage girl, her brother the teenage boy, her the little girl, and her baby sister the ambiguous gender baby. Of course parents and grandparents worked out perfect as well, but that's a given. So...here's the family portrait...
I'm the one in the blue sweater in the middle. Fun how my nephew who is really six is taller than me...ha ha. As my brother pointed out, I'm so short that will be reality soon anyway. :)
Here is my niece and I with our "pretend" counterparts.
My other favorite was when she went to play in my parents room and came back out and said "someone is sleeping in there. I think real grandpa is taking a nap". Pretend grandpa was lined up with the others on the kitchen table while pretend daddy said "we're going to grandma's house" over and over and over again. LOVE IT!

I got spoiled with a plethora of fabulous gifts, as usual. Thanks friends, family, and of course Santa!

In my opinion Christmas is not just one or two days, but rather a "holiday season" that begins with Thanksgiving and ends with New Years. Although Christmas Day itself is a big day in my family (as is "The Eve"), our Christmas festivities are far from over (especially since six of us weren't able to come today due to the weather...they'll be here tomorrow). So...stay tuned for more Christmas with Juli.