Richards Christmas Party

Every year my mom's family, the Richards, has a Christmas party, and it is so much fun! I always look forward to the food and traditions we have. We always have it at my Aunt Holly's, we bring white elephant gifts, Santa comes and brings gifts, and we do the nativity. I have so many great memories over the years of these things, and I can't wait for my kids to have the same fun and memories.



This year was fun for white elephant gifts. Usually I think of something really clever to do. Two years ago I brought a box of chocolates and I took bites out of each one. My grandpa ended up getting it and he wasn't too happy about it. :) This year I completely forgot about them so we stopped at the grocery store on the way to the party. I picked up the first few things I saw, Dots and Stephen's Hot Chocolate. I don't really consider these white elephant gifts, but I guess every game has to have gifts that people want. These gifts were stolen three times before they were "frozen." It was cool, so maybe it is nice to bring a nice gift instead of crappy ones that are hilariously funny.

This year Jared ended up getting party poppers. We are going to use them for Ryan's 1st birthday. Hopefully they don't scare him too badly. :) I got my Aunt Holly's first TV. It was even color!! Conveniently, I left it at her house. :) Ryan didn't bring a gift, but he enjoyed playing with other people's. I figured it was good practice for Christmas morning.

Someone got these "underwear" with a fake butt showing. It was a pretty funny gift! A lot of us tried it on. My mom being one of them. She is SO funny!! It looks so real! We even put them on Ryan. He wasn't too impressed.

Next up was Santa. My grandpa plays Santa every year and he looked great this year! Mrs. Claus must have got him some new threads. Ryan wasn't feeling too good that night. He had a cold and was getting a fever. It got pretty high while we were at the party, but he still sat on Santa's lap like a champ. He loved the bells on Santa's chest. He looked at the beard a little bit, but the bells were shiny and made noise. :) Ryan and my cousin Cooper both got really cute stuffed animals that laugh when you shake them. Ryan LOVES it! He likes to crawl around with it in his hand and it just laughs and laughs the whole time. We've learned to not take it in the car with us though, because every time we go over tiny bumps, it activates it and it starts laughing as Ryan is usually sleeping. Great job, Santa!!


Mrs. Claus gives all the women in the family a christmas decoration. I LOVE getting these and look forward to it every year. This year we got HUGE ornaments. I can't wait to use it next year. The men usually get something manly. It's always been something we need too, so we are so happy about it! This year it was a car cleaning kit. We have nothing to wash our cars with and now that we have a place we can wash our own cars, it is so nice! Now we just need to get a hose!

The nativity is always wonderful. My cousins Kaylee and Darby are 8 years old and every year they take turns being Mary. This year it was Darby's turn. We usually use a baby doll for Jesus, but Cooper made a wonderful Jesus! He held so still and was happy to play the part. Last year we didn't know what Cooper was going to be, a boy or a girl, so everyone said that Ryan would be baby Jesus. I am glad that Cooper ended up being a boy, because Ryan was so sick and cranky that night. Even if he wasn't, he wouldn't have sat still. I guess you could say he is a busy baby!! I play the narrator every year and I love it. It's the perfect way to participate without having to dress up. :) Jared likes to just watch, but I am sure next year we will have Ryan playing a part too. Maybe he will be a sheep or something. I can't wait!

Nancy and I took some funny pictures of each other. My family is really good at pulling silly faces. She might hate me for this, but I had to put it up here! :) They are good memories!

We had a blast even though Ryan was sick. It's always so much fun to get together with family. It's fun to see how the family grows and I'm sure it's going to get a lot bigger as the years go on. I love my family and how fun they are! I'm so glad I have Jared to enjoy them with, and also the cutest baby in the world. How did I get so lucky!?