Christmas Is All About Family and Friends

For me, Christmas is all about family and this year, I'm really glad that nearly everyone was in town for the holidays. My mom, sisters, brother, nieces, Maki's parents, Maki's brother all came to the house on Christmas Eve, along with some friends and neighbors. Our friends Eve, Karl and their son + Seana, Duane and their kids have been spending Christmas Eve with us for the past few years so it's officially a tradition that they join us!

The real stars of the show are the kids. There's something so magical about having kids around during the holidays. CJ and my niece Jessie spent the day playing at my house and tracking Santa's travels on the Nordic Santa Tracker.  They would laugh and squeal with delight as they viewed photos and videos of Santa in places in Japan, the Philippines and Australia. We figured it takes Santa 36 hours to visit every country and deliver all his presents.

It was wonderful for the kids to spend time with their favorite uncle, Uncle Alex. Alex is my divorced brother who doesn't have any kids but the kids absolutely adore him. He's kept his childlike sense of wonder and he loves to play games with the kids. CJ loves it when Uncle Alex tells fantastical stories about Fang Boy and other characters.

We tried to make sure CJ was well aware that Jesus is the "reason for the season" but of course, for him, Christmas is about the presents, family and food.  Here are some photos of the family from Christmas Eve.