Family Pics- ALL the family!

Let me preface this with a little explanation. My family has never been together, all of us I mean, like this. This was our very first "reunion". At weddings, graduations, holidays in the past there have been a few folks from each family present- but we were always missing several members. But this time we had my dad AND mom, all 3 sisters, all 3 of the husbands and every grandchild. We knew this was rare and we weren't going to let it go undocumented. So when friends of the Miller's asked Andy to help take their family's Christmas picture, we asked them to help us out.

So here they are... my beautiful family!

Porter could not be kept awake, but we weren't going to let that stop us!

PoPo and grandkids Oma and grandkids

All the grandkids (and 2 fussy boys!)

I love my family. Their ins and outs. Their silliness and craziness. Their good and bad. Their easy and difficult. That's what family is, after all. Love without bounds. And this is mine.

Sorry, my mistake

So, if you're looking for Christmas Eve- please scroll down. I messed up and through some creative editing and blogging, my Christmas Eve post ended up down there somewhere. I didn't forget it, I didn't skip it or leave it out. I just misplaced it. So look for it. Enjoy it. And then continue on from there. Our trip just isn't our trip without it!

Merry Christmas !

Yes, this is Christmas 2008. For those of you who faithfully check out the Jensen blog, you have been anxiously awaiting for the rest of our vacation news. So I'm back to it. Thanks for being so patient! I just put Porter down for his nap and hope to get to 2009 at least today. Wish me luck- and check back soon! I have a bunch of new stuff to blog about, too!

Again, in attendance for Christmas - just to get everyone up to speed -

The Miller's: Tom, Elizabeth, Andy(just shy of 19) and Josh(15 1/2)
The Jensen's (that's us): Larry, Cassie, Payton(15 1/2), Riley(13), Sydney(11 1/2), Maisyn(8 yr), and Porter (22 mo)
The Bresnahan's: Brian, Terri, Abby(4) and Paxon (2+)
The Brown's: Oma/Mom/Sharon
The Aung-Myint's: PoPo/Dad/Robert, Joe (practically 20) and Nigel(14 1/2)

The day started out sluggish, as Christmas morning should. Everyone gathered in the living room around the tree when the little ones started to realized what the day was! I'm pretty sure that they all remembered quickly who came to visit the night before (see Christmas Eve post) - and hoped he left something good under the tree for them! No one was disappointed this year! Happy faces all around! The girls even got together and planned an anniversary gift for Larry and me- they pooled some of their own vacation money to buy us a gift card to Applebee's- and they made us a cute card on the computer with their cousin, Josh. So sweet! All the cousins, including Joe and Nigel, had a little gift exchange amongst themselves. The $10 limit was strictly enforced and we had to laugh when Joe and Nigel both got the same "20 questions" game in different colors! All left happy with ipods to Hulk hands, Mickey Mouse to flapper dresses, summer sausage to a new keyboard. Merry Christmas!

We had a yummy breakfast, very casual, and got ready slowly. We had the opportunity to head to the dock and get some all-family pics done. (Yes- the lake, the dock, the sand, all outside on CHRISTMAS DAY! Yeah for Florida!) Then there was music, games, Rock Band, yummy food, laughs, foosball, movies and more to round out the night-

A very merry Christmas, indeed!