'Tis the time of year

Somehow the first few weeks of December seemed to slip away from me and here we are a week before Christmas and a two weeks before 2013.  We have kept busy the past few weeks though, here are a few thing that we have done-

We decorated the Christmas tree, though most of the ornaments are on the top two-thirds of the tree to keep them away from little hands and on the tree. 

Had friends over for an annual dinner and actually had all of us here for the first time in many years.

Went to Grandma Helen's funeral.

And had out of town family over for Sunday dinner

We went to the zoo for the Zoo Lights- and missed the cold and crowds

Went to the Bradley family breakfast and ate delicious food and saw Santa

Sent out Christmas cards- the kids were my licking and stamping brigade. James decided that he had to soak is tongue in a glass of water after.

We took the kids to the Dickens festival, something that Christian I remember going to when we were kids, the kids loved it.

We made fudge and delivered it to our neighbors.

And we welcomed Grandma and Grandpa Bradley home from the Germany.

It has been a busy few weeks and there seems to be no end in sight for a while, but at least we are having adventures!

Bellamy Family Breakfast

Growing up I remember loving to attending Bellamy family activities. I have a plethora of  cousins and we would get together once a month for Family Home Evening and for Thanksgivings and Christmas Eves. Christmas Eve's were an adventure. All piling into Nan's living room singing together and anticipating not only the gifts but our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of roast beef sandwiches. As we grew we still pilled into that room though it was a lot harder to fit the meal was still the same.  Of course it came to the point that there were just to many of us to keep getting together and Thanksgivings and Christmas Eves ended as did the Family Home Evenings. 

Though I still saw a few of my cousins now and then the only real contact I had with them was on Facebook or for a few minutes once a year at a larger family reunion. Truth is, I missed my cousins. I liked sharing time with them and talking with them. I liked being able to recall shared memories. So taking the idea from my husband's family I organized the first Bellamy Family breakfast-

We didn't have everyone there but we had quite a few. We ate, talked and the kids even played a few games.

I loved watching my kids get to know my cousin's kids and become good friends.

At the end (after some had left) we took a picture of Nan and all her grandchildren still at the party. I loved watching Matty take to Jessie and not leaving her alone all day. Or Eve coloring with Tori. It was just fun to watch them all.

I enjoyed being able to see my cousins and spending time with them. I can't wait to do it next year.