Christmas Part Three: The Weavers

After presents and cinnamon rolls with my parents and brother it was time to head back to the Rock.

We got home in time to sit and breathe for a few minutes before packing up another load of presents and some more food. Then it was off to Jill's with Christmas with all of Andrew's brothers and sisters as well as his Mom and Dad.

For whatever reason, I didn't take any pictures at this gathering. Let me give you a mental picture. It starts with Mom and Dad Weaver. They have six children, all of whom are married. That's 14 adults. They also have 12 grandchildren. Lots of people and even more gifts.

When I tell people that we don't draw names but that everyone buys for everyone they are in shock. I guess to the average family, that does seem like a lot of gifts. I think people automatically think about the money that is spent. I don't think there is one single member of the family who truly worries about this. We all love buying for one another. It is a small way to show one another how much we love each other.

The Weavers do things differently when it comes to gifts. Growing up, no matter which side of the family I was with, we always took turns opening presents. WE started with the youngest and worked our way up. The Weavers, however, do not do this. The eldest Weaver child, Chris passes out gifts and you just open them as you get them. Now I completely understand why they do this... it would take awhile for 28 people to open gifts individually. But I hate that it is total chaos because you never know what everyone gets. I like to watch everyone else open gifts and this free for all style makes it difficulty to do that.

Either way, Christmas with the Weavers is lots of fun. I wish I had some pictures to show you just how fun it is.

After almost everyone had left Jill's, Andrew and I joined in a game of Bananagrams. Alex received the game for Christmas. It is like a fast paced Scrabble. I had never played before, but I love word games. I must say, I dominated the game. That means I LOVED this game. I think it is my new favorite game. Andrew and I will definitely be purchasing this in the near future. I'm alwasy up for a game where I can beat him. There aren't vey many games out there where I can beat the husband.


Weaver Christmas continued onto Saturday. We gathered at Andrew's Uncle Kevin and Aunt Sandi's house for more Christmas. This Christmas involved the Weaver clan, plus Uncle Kevin & Aunt Sandi, Grandma and Grandpa Mc, and Andrew's cousins. For the past two years, we have done some caroling at this particular gathering. We don't go anywhere, we sit in Uncle Kevin's house and sing. Now... I'm sure all the Weavers just LOVE this. You see all the Weavers can sing. It comes from singing around the piano has children. And yes they really did that.

However, I'm a Weaver by marriage. I did not grow up singing around a piano every night after dinner. I cannot sing. At least not well. I enjoy singing at Uncle Kevin's. I really do. But it can be a bit intimidating to a married in Weaver. I just try to sit away from the others and sing really quietly. :)

I only hope that one of the Weavers will be willing to teach my children how to sing, because I do love to hear Andrew and his siblings sing together. It is a beautiful sight and sound.

We also had some gingerbread house creations at Uncle Kevin.

Saturday night Andrew and I went bowling with three of our nephews and Andrew's parents. I was really hoping to meet one of my 101 goals. I originally wanted to bowl a 200 but the husband has convinced me that that goal isn't very realistic, so I've lowered it to a 150. Either way, no such luck this night. Maybe next time.

Here are a few pictures from Uncle Kevin's and bowling.