Christmas Day At Poppy's

My dad, a.k.a. "Poppy," decorates a big tree and wraps the gifts for his children and grands. I do help him with some shopping, to save him time and money, but he loves to give and give to his babies. I like his house at Christmas time. This year he put more garland up on the stairs and in the doorway into the formal living room.

Some of Poppy's babies on the staircase. Little J didn't want to be in the photo and of course we are missing our two Florida boys.

A circle of anxious little ones, waiting for Poppy's gifts. Z is looking spiffy this year in his new specs.

My "baby brother," J laments the absence of J and her family. They live in Florida and come about every other year for Christmas.

Poppy begins to hand out gifts. We tried to do them one at a time this year, so we could see what everyone was getting. A lot more enjoyable for us.

My grandparents joined us for awhile and were able to see the kids open their gifts.

We have some tried and true traditions in our family. One of my favorites is gathering at my dad's house for brunch. We get to be in our own homes for Christmas morning, let the kids open their gifts and enjoy them for a few hours, then we travel into "606" for a massive feast of pork, pork and more pork. With a little eggs and potatoes thrown in. Yummy. Dad is a good cook, especially in the breakfast area. After we loaded up the dishwasher, we came together in the big living room (it no longer feels spacious once we put our growing family, a big tree and dozens of presents in there). Normally chaos ensues, but this year a few of us requested that he give out gifts one at a time so we could actually see what the kids received and from whom. It was a more peaceful way to go. My boys were so thrilled by the Legos "ExoForce" sets they got, along with new Wii games for the twins and a huge globe for Brandt. They also received new blue jeans and snazzy shirts and sweaters for church. Thanks Poppy (and Mommy)!

After opening gifts we hung out and let the kids play with their cousins. We didn't have anywhere else to be, so our family hung out with Poppy the rest of the evening, enjoying his homemade vegetable soup and turkey and ham sandwiches. TOO MUCH FOOD IN ONE DAY!