The last holiday post, I promise!
With all the formal photos out of the way, so to speak, I am sharing some candid photos from Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning!
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| Dad and Mary |
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| Jackson with Uncle (cousin to everyone else) Kevin |
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| Little Jackson was missing his own puppies back home... |
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| Uncle Andy...being all masculine and cutting grapefruit for salads |
We've always played games, conversed or worked on the annual Christmas puzzle while Christmas Eve dinner was being prepared. So while the parents were busy planning the feast of prime rib, potatoes and so many more options that we all had to be rolled away from the table.....
the cousins chatted...
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| Kendy and Claire, being a goof...no surprise there! |
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| Jackson meeting Cousin Bri |
made merry and.....
...PLAYED HEADS UP!
I don't know about you, but we all LOVE this game. It is incredibly entertaining and with so many different slide decks to choose from, the fun is endless.
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| Of course we played the Christmas slide deck first...Mary volunteered to show others how the game was played |
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| It caught on quickly.... |
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| Everyone was quite animated...and this was before the 'Act It Out' round! |
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| Clearly, we weren't as good at guessing non-christmas |
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| Jackson wanted to play as well, but then got too distracted with the blankets :) |
After the marvelous roast beast, and several bottles of very good wine, we all settle down in our kerchiefs and caps to be refreshed for the morning. My parents had surprised everyone with matching sweaters this year so we there that family :)
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| But have you ever seen so many happy faces?! |
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| Bri and Grandmére, I love this photo |
The below photo is a close second of all the photos of the family opening presents Christmas morning. Our Uncle Paul has always give unique gifts. I remember several unique gifts. One year he gave us all huge rocks. I admit, at the age of 12 I didn't think that a rock was an adequate Christmas gift. But the rocks turned out to be geodes! He also used to give us brain twisters and complex puzzles to tease us with. While in recent years he's changed a bit and has started donating money to different charities in the families' names, his fun originality still comes through.
Mike and Kevin were both new to Tunakan Family Christmas. They'd both married into the family and had yet to celebrate one with us. So Paul, in typical Paul fashion, gave them their 'Right of Passage' gift: all the complex puzzles that the cousins had previously received with the challenge to solve them by the time they left!
Mike and Kevin took it in good fun :)
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| Jackson was a little busy with the bows to smile for photo! |
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| Mike being a good sport and showcasing his cousin Secret Santa gift. I mean, you never know, maybe his calves WILL get cold up there in PA! |
I'm so grateful that everyone indulged me and posed for so many photos! I've noticed that we've not always been very good at taking photos of the times we are together, unlike the previous generations, and when I mentioned it everyone agreed.
-Elise
