The Weir / Cash / Strother clan held our very 1st Christmas Eve Slumber Party.

The little ones (Ty & Asher) weren’t going to be with us Christmas morn, so the adults had to come up with SOMETHING to keep us preoccupied.

Honestly, it was fun.  At least I had fun.  And I kept making sure everyone knew it too.  We played Chicken-Foot with Papaw 1,000 times, Memaw could only handle 1 round…

..us kids (my sisters & Kaci) had a legit, throw-back slumber party in the living room… but I must say, if we do this again next year, I call a room without those 3!

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When our family gathers, we tend to crack ourselves up.  There are countless moments of “funny.”  I thought I’d highlight the ones I particularly found amusing.

Memaw bought us girls mix-matched polka dot socks.  Of course we HAD to take multiple pictures & post to Instagram, but FeFe beat us to it… After a few minutes Kaci & I asked her how many “likes” she received on the first pic, her response: “12 so we’re doin’ good.”

The room erupted.

Christmas night was a terror.  I entertained the notion maybe the Mayan Apolocolypse had been delayed a few  days. With harsh hail, gusty winds & freezing temperatures it was impossible to sleep.  I awoke in the wee-hours, FREEZING, calling out in the darkness: “Where is my little red blanket?!”  Thinking all the other girls were asleep, I rolled over… then hear Kaci finally say, “Uhm, Lacey & I stole it in the middle of the night.”

Wow.  Thanks familia.

People finally started to stir about 8am & the first down was Mom. “Santa couldn’t come last night because of the storm – the reindeer couldn’t fly, sorry.” And if that wasn’t enough, she went on to say, “Oh my gosh it wasn’t a silent night, it was a VIOLENT NIGHT!” Kaci responded, “that’s 2 for Aunt Donya & we haven’t even had breakfast.”

But even amidst all the fun, there were moments of beauty and utter joy.  One joy-filled moment was receiving a text message from my best friend saying, “Merry Christmas, I love you & I’m out front.”

I swung open the door & there he was… sitting in the BITTER cold… waiting patiently for me to wake up.

The joy continued with breakfast by Papaw, a prayer, 1,000 more games of Chicken-Foot (Ed & I constantly being harrassed for cheating. Whatever.), Watching Elf, A Christmas Story & White Christmas… laughing as Mom & Felicia danced to “Sisters, Sisters, There were never such devoted sisters”… Ashley exclaiming, “It’s snowing!” & everyone rushing out.

But the best was Christmas lunch. In those final moments of togetherness, I looked around that room & thought how lucky am I to not only have a hilarious, beautiful, loving family… but to have others in my life I consider family… & to have them all there in the same fun, joy-filled & beautiful Christmas moments.

and to have it all because of the one we gathered to celebrate, my precious Jesus.

Merry Christmas.