Crazy Christmas Traditions (and a few new ones)

Christmas at our house it actually usually just the opposite. We never have "Christmas" at our house. As many of you can probably relate, our Christmas season is usually spent running from house to house to make sure that we get all of our visiting done. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against all of the parties and things, but by the time Christmas is over, we are exhausted-and we don't even have kids to entertain during all of this.

Every year on the 23rd, the Burgin side of the family gets together for their annual Christmas Bash. There is food, and a good old fashioned white elephant gift exchange, then I can't forget the famous activity of banging metal pipes with tent stakes in the attempt to make music. Ok, honestly, it sounds pretty cool, and Mike's aunt takes this responsibility very serious. Everyone gets a turn, even the grown up kids. I am pretty sure Mike loves this, as you can see by his expression, although I think it was a little too much fun for his brother, Tyler.

Next we move on to the Morgan family Christmas party. We had it at my aunts house out in Draper, which is taking some getting used to. We have always had the party at my grandparents house, but as the family grows, we can no longer fit in my grandparent's house, so it was necessary to move it. And I must say that the party was a hit. We still had a pinata, which is a tradition for as long as I can remember, but then some new activities were thrown into the mix, such as making a santa suit out of red tissue paper and black construction paper. We took one of the cousins and dressed them up, then grandpa judged the santas. I still feel like my group's santa should have won (far left). I mean take a look at the detail on his boots! And the fact that he has full boots. . .yeah, I did that.
We also threw a talent show into the mix. Unfortunately we are a family of very few musical talents (with the exception of my cousin Theresa's family), so we were forced to be creative. This is my sister, Erin and her husband, Bryan. Their unusual talent was beat-boxing while brushing their teeth. It was hilarious-I mean awesome! Keep up the good work guys and let me know when you cut your first album!
Just had to throw this one in. Brooks finally caught on to the whole Christmas/Santa thing this year (well for the most part).
So, nobody got the memo that the party was supposed to be an ugly sweater party. I guess I should mention that my cousin Patrick got the memo, the only person, but his sweater was enough for everyone. Lookin' good!
This is my cute Grandpa. I just thought this pic was great so I wanted to put it on here.
Things that I didn't have my camera out for were Christmas morning at Mike's mom's house. We made Scottish pancakes for breakfast and then opened gifts before we headed over to my parent's house. On Christmas Eve, we got to talk to my brother Trent who is "far far away in the Philippines" as Brooks would say. He will be home next Christmas and honestly I don't think that any of us can wait. He is such a unique person, and he brings so much to our family and we love him for that. Can't wait for him to come home!

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season and that you got everything you asked for.