Green Elephant Party!

yes I know it says green and not white.
It is something that I need to explain every year when I talk about this annual party. I am not even sure I remember how it started (I should because I am the unofficial historian) but Zildy or Yadira brought a big ugly green buffalo candle to our first "white" elephant party and either Zildy or Yadira had the candle and not the coveted socks that everyone was fighting over at the end of the gift exchange. Zildy ended up with it (either she was the recipient or Yad left it at Zildys house in protest) and named it our green elephant, she threw a party the next year and re gifted it. It soon became tradition that whom ever got the candle as a present would throw the party the next year....and so on and so forth 13 years later the tradition has survived.


Becky threw the party this year and she did a fabulous job. Aside from a little confusion with the date most everyone showed up. We had delicious lasagna and talked all night.



Becky gave us some socks which is funny because she is the one that brought the sock on that first night. Mandy ended up being passed the torch to have the party for 2009.
Thanks Becky for a wonderful night and some more great memories.

This is what Christmas morning looks like when you are rushed and need to wake the kids and force them to open presents.
Not that it took too much pushing once they figured out what was going on. Trains were the theme for Christmas this year, Geo-tracks and polar express are the favorites. "Santa" is still trying to figure out just how much is too much and what the kids can handle but after three years of going totally overboard we think he is getting the hang of it. In his defense "Santa" had to make two stops this year one at Grandpa and the other at Grandma's house and didn't really want either of them to miss out on the fun. After opening and then packing up driving across town to open some more even Jolly old St. Nick forgot somethings.
Luckily there were enough toys to distract from the fact that the Polar Express was left behind, it was recovered before the 16 hour drive home. Good for everyone because that would have been a potential meltdown.