Family Christmas Party

We had a great time at our Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house for our annual Christmas party. It is fun to get together with family that you don't see very often. Kids love to reunite with their cousins, and I love to spend time with my cousins, aunts, and uncles that I only see every few months it seems. We had delicious food (too much of it!), great conversation, a nativity reenactment, white elephant gifts, and formal gift exchanges. I loved the white elephant gift exchange because it helped me get rid of a bunch of toys and stuff that was headed to the DI!
OK. So, my children wanted to come up with their nativity costumes all on their own. I was grateful for this because I had a lot to get prepared with the presents and food I was bringing to the party. This is Grace as Mary, her cousin Jonah as Joseph, and Isaiah as the donkey. I thought Isaiah was pretty creative with his donkey face.
Here is our shepherd boy who looks more like his name sake then a shepherd. I think it is the HUGE staff that he was carrying around.
Here is our little happy wise man. He was very excited to find that gold box to hand over his present to little baby Jesus!

We sang lots of Christmas carols, and the kids got games for their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Clawson. My favorite was the precious handmade gifts that Grandma Anderson made for all of the girls. Beautifully, creative homemade purses. The kind you see at boutiques. I don't know why I didn't inherit those crafty genes. Maybe because my husband might have divorced me if I brought home crafts to have around our house!