This year the Longwell's once again had Christmas at Grandma's because our place is so tiny. We arrived at 7 to open gifts from each other and help make breakfast. Everyone else came at 8:30 to enjoy the food Mom and I had prepared! Then, the true craziness began. 31 people in my momma's house with a tree and presents and coats and things from home they had to bring and food and drinks and games and baking and cooking and on and on. Chaos, but wonderful chaos. It was a lot of fun, but a bit
sad. It doesn't get any easier to look at Dad's empty chair no matter how much time goes by.
But anyway, even though times are tight, we had a wonderful Christmas and my children (and everyone else) got too much and ate too much. We laughed and shared and celebrated the birth of our Savior. We had two new folks at Mom's for the fist time this year~Rick's mom, Gail, and Kim's boyfriend, Roger. I know they suffered a bit of culture shock, but both survived!
Everyone buys gifts for the kids (like they need
that many!), but for the adults we do a chinese
gift exchange. Always entertaining to see what others brought and to fight for the items you want!
