Lucky to have Large Family

This year's family Christmas party was pretty amazing.
I'm very lucky to have a lot of cousins around my age and as a result holidays are spectacular, especially Christmas.

Christmas Eve has traditionally been composed of a nice Catholic church ceremony where the priest reminds everyone that it's CHRISTmas... and this "Happy Holidays" nonsense is ridiculous followed by gifts from mom and dad.

This year I got my mom a nice scarf and my dad a electric wine corker from Brookstone.


Christmas day is when everyone gathers for dinner, presents and games.


Before, I felt like my family was shrinking, but with the birth of my... erm.. nephew? (cousin's child) my family grew so much more. I did not want to hold the baby, because I break things.


My parents are so classy.


A lot people means a lot of food and a lot of presents. It was gift bag madness- no one has time to wrap presents anymore.


This year I made a marinara sauce from scratch. Thanks to Michael's help, it was a success and I got a lot of compliments. I'm already pressured to make something extraordinary next year... EEKS! I'm glad no one was poisoned.

This year I also got all my cousin gifts and they seem to enjoy my small, but "thoughtful" gifts. I exposed my secret - the worker at the novelty store helped me a lot!