A Weekend With the Wojos

This past weekend was our belated Christmas celebration with Curt's side. Every year for the past six years we've gotten together on a weekend in January rather than packing in our family time during the actual holiday season. We see each other then, too, if possible, when there are bigger family gatherings with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, but we've come to appreciate the time that just the immediate family is together at Mom & Dad's, especially now that there are kids involved. What we've done in the past is gone out for dinner, followed by a night of gifts and games. Each child took his/her turn each year choosing the restaurant and location. Last year there were only two babies, so family friends came over to watch them while we went out. This year, though, we decided to stay in and host it at our house, which ended up being much easier for Curt and I than packing up our entire house to spend an overnight now that we have two kids. And since there are four kids total, three of whom wouldn't be comfortable with an unfamiliar babysitter at their ages, they were part of the festivities as well.

Maddy and Jackson checking out their new presents

Curt had decided that, since it was his year to choose the meal, he wanted each of his siblings to make something "exotic" that they - or at least most of us - had neither eaten nor made before (that's how he defines "exotic" food). We ended up having a really good meal consisting of duck, jerk chicken wings, stuffed peppers, ham and potato soup, and tiramisu for dessert. We had fun sharing our opinions of the different foods, and the siblings even came up with a contest to choose the winner (the peppers and dessert tied). After dinner we exchanged white elephant gifts, which was hilarious, and played some games. On Sunday we went to church and came home to a nice breakfast, followed by an afternoon of snacks and Vikings (n0tice which I wrote first) before the family departed.

The white elephant exchange. I should have taken a full-length picture so you could see how awesome this sweater truly is. Curt's is a hand-made t-shirt from his sister Erin (she's in the above photo).

Spending times like this together reminds me how lucky we both are to have such great families. There is so much love and laughter shared among us all, and I am always so touched when I see how much love our parents have for our children. Watching the kids spend time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins as they grow up has already given me such a deep sense of pride and joy, which I'm sure will only continue to grow as the years pass by... all too quickly.