For Christmas Eve all of us Heelis' gathered together at Sasha's house in Saratoga Springs.
First on the agenda was lunch with pot luck soups (everyone was impressed with Sean's butternut squash soup), Mom's famous rolls, relish plates, and Sasha's amazing cake (of which I had about five pieces)!
Mom, Melanie, and Sasha talking it up in the kitchen
Brei joining the conversation
My family being all social eating by themselves in the corner
Matt's family in the other corner
Until Eric and kids joined them
The "little kids" tables
Sasha sporting some great expressions while Matt fights to stay awake
Saul loving that I'm taking so many pictures
Melanie also loving all the pictures, especially while she's eating!
Sweet Darek joining the party late due to work
BFF's Ari and Aspen
Brock not wanting to miss out on anything!
Cute sister Rachelle...wait, that's your Mom? No way!!!
Who are these old guys?
cousin bonding
Aubrey and Brad also bonding with everyone!
Our brave host Chris (Sasha's husband) gathering everyone together,
and assessing who was ready for the traditional reading (by Mom) and acting out (grand kids) of the Christmas Story. Apparently Brittney was ready...
along with everyone else, especially Matt and Mel!
Mom reading her rendition of the First Christmas, only this time a cardinal was a main player,
and that honor went to Rachelle, who played the role beautifully!
Also beautiful was Morgan's playing of Silent Night on her violin for background music
At one point the emotion became too much, so she had to pluck instead, which was just as beautiful!
Ari the angel, and Boden the donkey, anxiously awaiting their parts
The Shepherds watching their flocks by night now enter the scene...
Good to know there were gangster Shepherds back then, thanks for enlightening us Mason!
When Brock found out he was going to be a shepherd he drew a picture of the perfect staff, and then had Matt go outside to find it!
Matt's Tyson and Mel's Aspen, were once again Mary and Joseph (since they did such a great job last year!)
I don't think Bodie will be the star in the heavens next year, (bless his heart)
Que the Wise-men...
bearing gift of Gold, Frankincense...
and Redmond Salt!
(and can I just put it out there that Matt & Brei's Tage, and Mel & Eric's Corbin and Jaydon are totally naturals when it comes to acting!!!
I would be truly amiss if I didn't mention Ari's flawless depiction of the Angel of the Lord!
From beginning to end, it was a fine production! Thank you Mom for having the vision, and thanks to all the grandchildren who made that vision a reality!
Even though that was a hard act to follow...
no Christmas party would be complete without a White Elephant exchange,
which was initiated by our other fearless host, Sasha!
Take a number...
the anticipation was killing everyone!
Rachelle was lucky enough to draw number one so she went first, and she totally lucked-out with this awesome pig!
Jaydon lucked-out too, with his Snowball Slingshot!
Tage and Merinda both had fun bags of goodies (I guess I missed the gift bag full of multiple gifts memo, as all of us Manwarings showed up with one cheap or gently-used gift!)
Next, it was Brock's turn, and I suddenly got a very sick feeling in my stomach as he picked one of our gift! While he was unwrapping girls socks, I kept having flashbacks of last year when he didn't like his gift and just cried and cried. I closed my eyes and waited...and he did not disappoint, the crying ensued! Thank goodness his dad (Matt) told him he'd always wanted girl socks, and took it from him.
Relief all around (especially from me) as Brock chose another gift...but would it be enough to un-traumatize the poor boy?
Morgan, Tage, and Bodie's expressions in the background say it all! We were all holding our breath and sitting on the edge of our seats until we could ascertain Brock's reaction. After he looked at it for awhile, he finally came to the conclusion that yeah, a hammer's alright!...
especially after Tyson showed him that it was no ordinary hammer, but a hammer with a secret compartment that held a screw driver attachment! Game changer! Just think of the possibilities! He could be his dad's little helper for life!
(Brei so relieved her prayers were answered)
(Brei so relieved her prayers were answered)
Everyone else seemed to be generally happy with the gifts they chose like Ari who held hers close so no one would take it,
and Bodie who held on tight to his teddy bear in his lap!
Dante, Aubrey,and Merinda, actually got things they liked,
and Aspen too (in about 80 years!)
Darek's gift was also perfect (if you subtracted 18 years)
Breck & Iris legitimately scored the best gifts of the night after Breck kept trading all his gifts in order to give Iris exactly what she wanted (what a good husband!)
Sasha still wondering why the count was off (until she realized she forgot to add in her own kid's gifts). And Melanie, not really sure of anything anymore!
As for me...I had such a wonderful Christmas Eve with everyone, I can't wait to do it all again next year!
(no lie...for real you all!)
(no lie...for real you all!)
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