The One Where We Celebrated Christmas

We had a great Christmas! It was filled with so many times spent with family and friends. We are truly lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Here is a re-cap of our Christmas holiday:

This is what our tree looked like before we packed up all the gifts and brought them to our parents' houses.

I forgot to mention this little train I found at Tai Pan when we were there a few weeks ago. I love it! And it fits right in with all our other decor.

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CHRISTMAS AT THE
O'CONNOR'S
We spent Christmas Eve with my parents. We celebrated with a night of food, fun, and games.
And we all spent the night at their house - it was so fun!

I made ham roll-ups for the party.
A family favorite!

Aaron requested his all-time-favorite no-bake cookies.
This has been the only time I cooked them just right! They were yummy.

Tyson made his famous meatballs.
My family loves them!

All the food

Britney made a delicious vegetable dip, it was so good!

We also had shrimp, ham and rolls, a cheese ball, and all sorts of sweets.

(It isn't a party at the O'Connor's without chocolate ha ha.)

Che' and Amber also made a really good queso dip for chips. Yum!

Dishing up


And of course, my plate of food. :)


Amber & Che'

Tyson & I

Bingo!
Che's mom let us borrow her Bingo game and it was so fun!

Mom bought and wrapped up a whole bunch of prizes for the game. Then we played Yankee Swap with them.

Grandma & Grandpa Murri also joined us for the fun.

Our prizes!

We ended up with hot tamales, cheetos, a couple of note pads, tootsie rolls, and a rubix cube.

We also played Laugh Your Butt Off.

For those who don't know what that is, it's a really fun word game.

1) First everybody puts random words down on pieces of paper to use in the game. Some of these words could be characters from a TV show or movie (Zach Morris, Buddy the Elf...), places (New York City, Grandma's house...), or other random things like bobbing for apples, Samsonite brief case, and so on. You can get pretty creative.

2) After all the words are in the bowl the first round starts (boys against girls). The first round you have 30 seconds to describe as many of the words as possible. Then you calculate your points and move onto the next person. This goes till all the papers are gone.

3) In the second round you get two words to describe the words on the papers. (The same words are used every time.) You get 45 seconds to do as many as possible. (We just do 30 seconds for all three rounds so more people get turns.) You do this till all the papers are gone.

4) And on the fourth round you can only act out the words on the paper. This can make for a pretty funny round depending on the words ha ha. You get one minute to act out as many as possible. The team with the most points at the end wins! So fun!

Adam acting out the words

Everyone gets into this game when your'e timed!

Aaron's face makes me laugh.

Tyson acting

Amy acting

(I think that one was Sid the Sloth ha ha)

Aaron acting

Britney acting

My parents' Christmas tree before all the presents were opened

The marrieds' stockings
Can you tell which ones belong to Che' and Amber? :)

Tyson's stocking

Christmas with the cats

We always take a picture on Christmas morning with the cats. I couldn't find Cubby so it ended up just being Snoopy and I.

Our little Snoopy is 13 years old and going downhill lately. We don't expect to have her around next Christmas. :( But sure do love her! She's not an indoor cat, but she always gets to come in for a little bit on Christmas day.

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CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE

MILLER'S

After opening presents and having breakfast at my parents' house, we traveled north to Ucon to see Tyson's family.

The results after all the presents were opened.

Can you find Cooper & Easton?

After we opened presents, we were able to talk to Clark & Kristi on Skype.

Lillie loved it!

Erika, Cooper, Steve, Angie, and Kate talking to Clark and Kristi

Lillie, Tyson & Jack

We were spoiled rotten!

We had a great Christmas and were home for about 1 1/2 hours before leaving for more partying, then home at about 1 am.

My family gave our baby a Christmas present: some jammies, little moccasin boot slippers, some diapers, and a stuffed lamb. So cute!

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THE MILLER FAMILY

CHRISTMAS PARTY

We had a Christmas party with Tyson's dad's family in Ucon. We had soup and rolls, then opened gifts.

Every year we bring gifts (either good or not so good ha ha) and we play a game to give everything away.

Dustin and Erika brought "big girl" panties as one of their gifts, and Easton ended up getting that one ha ha. He handled it pretty well!

Cooper and his scarf

Crue, Kate & Lillie

Such cute cousins! (And thanks for the picture, DeeAnn! You're a gem!)

Dustin, Erika, Tyson & I showing our prizes

I got a little kid toy and some scratch tickets ($2 win - woo hoo!)

Tyson got coasters and a chocolate coconut. Yes, I said coconut. We didn't keep it ha ha.

Erika ended up with some Bath and Body Works soaps, and Dustin got a very nice children's book.

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THE MURRI FAMILY

CHRISTMAS PARTY

We also had a Christmas party with my mom's side of the family.

We had a yummy dinner of roast beef and potatoes. Then we gathered for some singing and music, and opened presents right after.

My mom's siblings and their spouses sang "Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland."

My cousins Brandon and Jason also sang a song

(They're brothers, can you tell?)

And cousin Logan discovered recently that he can make a noise like a chipmunk ha ha.

Cousin Tyrel wrote a really cute Christmas story/poem.

Grandma & Grandpa opened their presents first.

Their kids got them a new food processor.

They were pretty excited about it!

They also got a new set of hair-cutting tools.

Grandma is quite the hair-cutting lady!

Tyson & I

More presents!

Grandma and Grandpa always give their grandkids a gift for Christmas - they're so selfless!

Miles and Adam just received theirs when I took this picture. The married kids got shampoo and conditioner with some money. The single girls got clothes and the single boys got candy and a gift card. My mom and her siblings also exchange gifts to the families. Aunt Lee and Uncle Mike gave the married kids bags of Cuties. Perfect!

I love these people!

Me, Deidre, Tyrel, Jena, Amber

My people

Che', Amber, Amy, Britney, and Aaron

(also known as some of my siblings ha ha)

Tyson & I

Grandpa, Mom, Grandma, Bob & Penney playing Rummy

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DINNERS WITH

FRIENDS

It is always so nice to get together with old friends during the holidays!

Oly, Erica S., Amber, Erica S., Kathy, and I went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner when Erica S. came into town from Colorado. It was so fun!

We also went to dinner with some high school friends. I wish everyone could have been there! Our schedules were all pretty crazy.

Amber, Stacy, Lexie, Candra, Heather, Angie, Kelsie, and I were able to get together and go to Chili's.

And I also went to lunch with some of the Miller family girls. It was so fun!

Angie, me, Tacie (she came in town from Washington, so fun to have her here!), Meg, DeeAnn, Annie, Grandma Hill, McKenzie, Erika, and Julie.

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We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!