As I sit here and wait for all these photos to load, I realize that Christmas came and went without much reflection. Ezra came down with RSV the week of Christmas, and once those survival instincts kicked it, I wasn’t able to even process the good times that we had. So this post is such a wonderful little blessing for me to write and process everything we did for Christmas this year!
We headed up to Northern Michigan on Dec 19th for the grand Hines get together! Theo’s parents have seven sons. Four of those sons are married (2 parents + 7 sons + 4 wives = 13). One son is engaged (13 + 1 = 14). There are also 16 grandchildren (14 +16 = 30). THIRTY. There are 30 people in Theo’s immediate family! Two of the grandchildren were not able to be there for this get-together, so 28 people got together to celebrate Christmas this year!
As usual, I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have, but I did grab a few great ones!
First up…Grandpa took all the cousins out to the woods to cut their own Christmas tree down!
We celebrated the oldest brothers birthday… Happy Birthday, Barnabas! Hard to believe next year will be FORTY!
My in-laws have a cabin Up North on the lake, but we are growing out of the cabin! This year we had to set up the dining room in the game room, so we could all fit around one table.
Actually…make that one table for the adults and one incredibly chaotic table for the kids! Of the 16 cousins, the oldest is 13. And the next oldest is 11. So, the remaining 14 cousins are all under 10!
One of the highlights of getting together with all of the family is the ladies lunch! All of the wives/fiancees get to go out to the thrift store and then out to lunch together…without any children (except Ezra, of course).
Another favorite tradition is Grandpa’s treasure box! He collects tons of different items throughout the year, and every day when we are together each child gets to pick a treasure from the treasure box! They LOVE this.
Seven boys means LOTS of active conversations and competitive games. This was a game of corn hole that turned extremely competitive and strategic. If you know any Hines boy/man, you know that they can make ANYTHING a strategy game…
So it’s also safe to say that the actual strategy games abounded!
A winter reunion often means snuggling up all together to watch a movie! It’s kind of hard to tell in this picture, but there was ONE cousin on the couch…and FIVE cousins crowded together on the armchair. LOL. Also…this is how we ALL get the same sicknesses. And, also…look at the boys lining up the cars.
More strategy games!
On Saturday morning, we all assembled for Christmas presents!
Grandpa handed out elf hats for all the kiddos who were going to help him hand out presents.
Ready for presents!
Before we began, Grandpa read the Christmas story.
The gangs all here!
And let the chaos begin! Kids EVERYWHERE.
And here we have the one and only picture of me at Christmas time…nursing the baby. #reality #momlife
Mass chaos. And the newly engaged couple oblivious to it all.
And Ezra, also oblivious to it all. #thirdchildproblems
While most of the time spend with the Hines family is busy and chaotic, there are some sweet and quiet moments if you just look for them!
There is always someone working hard in the kitchen!
Ezra and the Christmas rolls. LOL. (Please don’t send me angry messages about how dangerous this is. I assure you that I was standing right there and that being on the table was actually safer than being on the floor with 13 other small children running around!).
The neighbors across the street are professional Mr. and Mrs. Claus. It’s their day job- year round. When they caught wind of how many kids were hanging out at the cabin, they surprised us and came over! The funniest part was that none of our families do Santa. Our kids all know Santa as a fictional character, so they were very, very confused. And even more confused when Santa asked them what they wanted for Christmas. Still, they loved it and were so, so excited when Santa gave them each a pencil!!!
With 28 people to house, the sleeping arrangements have to be quite creative. We rented an Airbnb for a few nights, but it wasn’t available one night and we had to get extra creative. Tera was pretty excited to sleep on the floor in her crown…
We wrapped up our time with all the Hines family and headed back to Ohio on Christmas Eve. It was a long drive and all three kids were coming down with some sickness, so our Christmas Day was a little bit unconventional.
The kids woke up and were so excited. But, first…Mama needs to take some pictures!
Also. Kiah had swollen allergy shiner eyes before we left for Michigan, and they came back as soon as we got back home. We are pretty dang sure he was allergic to our Christmas tree. Poor kid. Looks like it’s time for a fake tree.
Theo told the Christmas story, while Tera acted it out with the felt pieces.
And then it was time for presents!
I absolutely love how we kept things so simple and not excessive. I feel like the kids got just the right amount of presents to be excited and have great joy while not being overwhelmed and greedy!
Tera loved helping to wrap the presents, and I LOVED finding her sweet four year old writing on my presents.
“MOM”
Just as we finished opening presents, we looked outside and it was SNOWING! I don’t know if I would consider it a white Christmas, but the snowflakes did fall from the sky!
Since we got home late on Christmas Eve, all the stores were closed and our pantry/fridge was looking pretty empty. SO! We had boxed Mac & Cheese and hotdogs for Christmas lunch! Honestly, it was probably much better eaten than if I had attempted ham/gravy/potatoes, etc. I call it a WIN and it might become our tradition. I did make pizza for dinner to celebrate Jesus’ birth, so it wasn’t a complete meal day fail.
Theo made me the BEST PRESENT ever…a puzzle board! I love, love, LOVE doing puzzles…but it’s really hard with kids around. We don’t have tons of extra space in our house, and if I leave my puzzle out on the dining room table, it usually gets knocked onto the floor (usually accidentally). Sooooo….Theo made me a puzzle board! I can do my puzzle on it, and when I need to stop, I can just put the board in a bedroom with the door closed so it’s not right in the middle of the kids. I LOVE it! I also got THREE puzzles for Christmas, so the rest of my Christmas Day looked like this…
And that is a wrap on Christmas 2018! The very next day is when Ezra got very sick, so as I look at these pictures I see the beautiful calm before the storm.
I love Christmas more and more my kids get older each year! It’s so much fun to see the holidays through the eyes of children. Tell me…what was your favorite part of Christmas 2018?