Merry [belated] Christmas!

With all the hustle and bustle of the various events that have been happening in the Sunder-Mills family this past month, blogging has been put on a hold. In the past three months there have been Daddy's back surgery, Halloween, [two] weddings, Thanksgiving, Jaxson's Baptism, Jaxson's FIRST Birthday/Party & [three] family Christmas get togethers. Needless to say, it will be nice to finally be able to take a breather from all the numerous party planning projects, cleaning, etc.

This year Ryan and I were trying desperately to be able to celebrate each Christmas with each other's families together. With crazy work schedules in both families, it can get quite tricky. Our first Christmas celebration was with Ryan's family the day before Christmas Eve [his brother-in-law had to work on Christmas Eve and then his sister had to work most of Christmas Day]. We enjoyed an awesome meal made by his Mamma [stuffed pork chops, YUM] and followed with presents. Thank goodness for the large room because I don't think we could have fit anymore people or presents in there! Aspen [Ryan's 11 month old niece] had a blast opening her presents and playing with them as soon as possible! We were all extremely fortunate and got some pretty amazing things. However, I think the best part about present time is when others open what you got for them! It was a great time spent with great people.

On Christmas Eve, the Sunder-Mills clan attended Christmas Eve Mass at St. Rose in Anthem. It is a beautiful church and I have grown to like it there very much. The priest performed an AMAZING homily focusing on Faith, Hope, and Love. He invited the children of the parish to come forward as he said the homily and involved them by asking questions. How awesome is that?! I absolutely love going to Christmas Eve mass and celebrating the true reason for the season. Following mass, we ate a quick dinner at Jaime's house and then headed out to look at Christmas lights. For those of you who don't know, there is an AMAZING house in the neighborhood behind Wal Mart. The man who lives there decorates his house, sets them up to Christmas songs and you tune into his very own radio station as you watch from your vehicle. It is about a 20 minute program and it definitely worth making the trip to see!

Jaime, Matt, and Jaxson made their way to our house on Christmas day. Over the years, we have become quite slow with the process of opening presents. This year we started at 12:30pm and ended about 4pm. Granted we had a few pauses for refreshments, diaper changes, bottles, baby nap time, etc. It may have taken a while, but we had nowhere else to go! We were enjoying each other's company, love, and taking our time doing so. After presents, we started cooking dinner and enjoyed our traditional Honey Ham [I am not a fan, but this year it was quite delicious]. Unfortunately Grandpa was not feeling well this year, so we ordered him to stay home and rest, but we were lucky to have our friends, the Migali's, stop by around dinner. Jaxson got to show his girlfriend, McKenna, his new car Grandma & Grandpa bought him! It was a relaxing day filled with lots of love!

 No wonder it took so long!

 Typical

"Dear Santa,

I can explain."

Since my dad's surgery is still a rather recent condition, us traveling to California for the "Mountan Family Christmas" was not an option this year. So instead of us going there, our family came to us! It felt so nice to have the homes filled with family members again. They started coming over the 26th and the rest on the 27th [the day we celebrated]. We decided we were going to do my Mamma's delicious lasagna and my Grandpa's AMAZING meatballs for dinner. Talk about YUM! Following dinner, we start the opening of presents. There is roughly 23 of us at each family gathering, so this process becomes quite long. With the large family, there is an adult present exchange shift and a niece/nephew opening shift. Once a niece/nephew gets married or turns 25, they are put in the adult gift exchange. Hmmm...maybe I will make sure I am 25 when I get married then :-P JUST KIDDING. When us kids were younger, we used to open our gifts and then dart out as fast as we could to go play, but now that we are all older we enjoy sticking around to see what the adults get as well. I feel so blessed to be a part of an amazing family! I always enjoy time spent with my aunts, uncles, and cousins...my only complaint is I wish it happened more often!