Christmas in Detroit

What a group! I love my family! It was our turn to travel to Detroit to celebrate Christmas. This was the 1st time this year that most all of us were together. We celebrated Christmas, my cousin Alex's 9th Birthday, and my Grandma's 75th Birthday. There were 7 kids running around and they did great! I was praying that they would get along and they did! It was a relaxing weekend but it went by too quickly! My aunt made a REALLY good pork roast as well as some other delicious food. These are some of the things I cherish, family, laughter, togetherness, and yummy food!








Eliza was very excited to get her own set of Polly Pockets. It's funny how we adjust what we give our 2nd and 3rd child. I never would have given Adrianna those when she was 3! Now since Adrianna has them and Eliza plays with them we have given her some too. She LOVES them!








Adrianna got her own set too. Here's hoping they won't fight over them now! Yeah right.....:)









This is my cousin Bryan's little girl. So I guess she is my 1st cousin once removed! She is almost 2 and so sweet!
She LOVES books and if you didn't know better, you would think she was reading! She looks at every page and word and studies it very thoroughly. The girls loved playing with her too!







Sweet little Rachel oblivious to the festivities!
She is just so squeezable!









All the adults exchange names for gifts. It is supposed to be a secret but for some reason, who has who always gets leaked out!:) The kids did a really great job of being thankful!






Caleb LOVES opening gifts! He loved banging on the box and saying "pretty".







We had a contest to see who could wear the craziest or most creative socks. Colin's were so cute but I can never understand how anyone can wear the kind where each toe has it's own spot. That would bug me to know end! He kept his on for a little while and then HAD to take them off. I don't blame him!




My dad won! He taped candy canes to his socks. Very innovative I must say! It's no surprise he was creative because that is one of his gifts! He won a HUGE box of microwave popcorn. Very cool prize!




Every time Shawn gets the camera I always find wacky pictures he has taken. They are usually of him making incredibly weird faces!








For the past 3 years we have done a cookie exchange with all the girls in the family. We each make 5 dozen cookies and then we each get 5 dozen in return. It is nice to be able to add some more variety to our trays we hand out !



I love my Grandpa's love for life! He is so funny and he always makes us laugh. He LOVES being the center of attention!










I know I am going to cherish this photo forever! My grandpa and my sweet boy!










I was just thinking how thankful I am to have a family to celebrate with. You hear of so many people in this world who long for that. God's blessings are abundant!