Today was one of those days that I wait for all year long with eager anticipation. Today was the Family Christmas Party. The Family Christmas party is for my Dad’s side of the family because he has seven sisters and having Christmas Day with Seven plus families at one time is very hectic so we have the party on a non holiday day around or after Christmas. What is fun about the party is that we get to see everyone in the family in one shot and catch up. All of us kids have gotten older and some of the kids now have kids of their own. It is nice to see Grandma and Grandpa with their Children, Grandchildren, and Great-Grandchildren all around.

We usually do a pot luck meal and everyone brings something, we have some traditional Family Party dishes that we always enjoy like jambalya. This year we did a modified Yankee Swap. Each person was to wrap up something from home that they liked but no longer used. It could be a CD, DVD, Book or magazine (not sure how magazine got in there and luckily no one brought one, I wouldn’t want to go home with a stack of my Mom’s Woman’s day books from 1986.) Allison and I brought a copy of the Chronicles or Narnia that we accidentally got from the Disney Movie Club (because I missed the deadline for returns) and I brought Tyrannosaur Canyon and Life of Pi. Each person was to open a present and try to guess who brought it. It wasn’t until my cousin opened the presents that I brought that I found out that “my copy” of Life of Pi was actually my sister Tara’s copy that she loaned me. Well, neither of us liked the book very much in the end anyway so it was no big deal, but imagine my shock that I gave away something that had been loaned to me.

It was really nice to see everyone and catch up. I look forward to next year’s party as well.

Today’s photo is of my cousin David and my second cousin Gabby, they share a birthday.

Here are some more pictures from the family party. Bennett Family Christmas Party.