Thursday, December 29, 2011

Enemas and other Christmas fun

My Christmas vacation started out with lots of fun, including our traditional White Elephant party with friends.

The double enema kit made it's annual appearance:
Brad scored a supposedly functional carpet spotter:
Angel's wrestling mask and scary clowns:
And a dead dog statue:
Because of a bad wreck on Highway 99, some of our guests were delayed. So we ended up doing two rounds of gifts, and I forgot to get more pictures. Oops :)

That was Sunday evening. Monday, Brad and I met some college friends for lunch at Claim Jumper. Ryan and Heather were in town from Washington, D.C. We hadn't seen them since their wedding years ago:
We got to visit with David two days in a row:
It was great to catch up with Darrin and Gretchen, too. It had been WAY too long!
Later in the day, Mom, Eryn and I did our annual toy-drive shopping trip to Bi-Mart.

We filled my car to the roof with skateboards, balls, baby dolls, nail kits and puzzles:
Barely had room for Mom:
We delivered the toys to Medical Teams International for distribution to local agencies:
The party, lunch and shopping were great ways to kick off our holiday break :)

Wood Christmas gathering

Not to be outdone by the McKees, the Wood family also took a turn at Christmas self portraits.

We gathered on Christmas Eve day at Friendsview in Newberg. Unfortunately, Brad's grandma was under the weather and stayed in bed while we partied in the other room.

I love how scared Brad looks in this one. He's a good sport :)
Brad's sis, Jill in from NYC (this one's for you, Allison!)
Steve:
Donna:
Steve's cousin, Mike:
Mike's wife, AJ:
Mike's sis, Debbie:
The Wood fam:The whole Wood/Goins gang, minus Grandma Barb:
Don't we look festive?? :)

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

McKee family Christmas

The McKee side of the family got together Friday night to celebrate Christmas. Cousin Amy and her husband, Kenny, invited us all to their beautiful new home in Tualatin.

We first enjoyed a traditional holiday meal with all the trimmings. Thanks to everyone who brought something for the potluck! I think the stuffing and rolls were my favorite (seconds, please!)
Then we settled in for some gift exchanging. But before we could get started, we waited a bit for Grandpa to fill out some Christmas checks. No problem :)

To keep us entertained, I introduced the whole family to my favorite game: self portraits! We passed the camera around and got everyone except Grandpa and Uncle John, as they were busy in the other room. (and Uncle Don and Aunt Cynthia who stayed home in Arizona this year)
Our host, Kenny:Cousins Charis, Kris and Aiden:
Aunt Pat:
Grandma:
My very talented dad:
Cousin Meghan:
Cousins Mike and Jon and Uncle Dave:
Cousin Peter:
Cousin Ryan:
Cousin Mike, again...
Aunt Nancy:
Our hostess, Amy:
Cousin Kristin:
Sis Eryn:
Ol' Shaky Hands Dad, again...
Paige:
Mom:
Cousins Reilly and Santa Andrew :
And all the McKee women:
Thanks to everyone for playing along, and for the generous and fun gifts! :)