Christmas That Almost Wasn't

... at least for me, anyway. LOL Before I get to that, let me start from the beginning.

A month or so before Thanksgiving, my Mom called each of us kids to tell us Thanksgiving and Christmas were at 5pm. In the past, holidays were ALWAYS at 2pm. We could count on Mom for the 2pm meal. When she announced both holidays would be at 5pm, I was sure I could hear rejoicing from the married siblings who had in-laws to go to!

Fast forward to 6:41am on Christmas morning... a text message from my 16yr old niece wakes me up. "Merry Christmas!" it said. I wondered if my sister wasn't up yet, which is why my niece texted me. Why do kids have to be up early on Christmas morning?? LOL As I rolled over I said: "Ugh... go back to bed Rachel" like she could hear me being an hour away.

Around 8am, I finally get out of bed and start my own berage of text messages to everyone I know, wishing them all a Merry Christmas. One in particular caught my attention... from another niece: "Merry Christmas to u. C u at 2!"

Being 17, I figured she just assumed Christmas was at 2pm. However, as I went about my morning making dessert for Christmas dinner, I couldn't let go of her 2pm comment. Finally, I called Mom and asked her what time Christmas was. 2PM!!! Holy cripes... I had to fast foward all the things I needed to get done in order to be over to my parent's on time.

Apparently, my mother made an announcement at Thanksgiving that Christmas would be at 2pm. Where was I? I know I wasn't privvy to *that* conversation. Laughingly, I told my Mom I would've missed dinner and presents. I'd show up just when everyone was leaving. In reality, it wouldn't have happened that way because *someone* would've called/texted me asking where I was if I wasn't there by 2:15, LOL.

Some pics of my Christmas:

One of my trees with most of the 12 Days of Christmas gifts.

Cards received this year. Thank you, everyone!

These are the trees from my parents' house. Yes, there's always an INSANE amount of gifts... and this year we even drew names!

This is a commemorative photo. One of the kids suggested I take their pic on the steps "like we always do". When I first started photographing them during Christmas, there were only 3 of them (the ones at the very top) and it wasn't difficult fitting them all one ONE step as toddlers! Now it's a bit of a tight squeeze.
Much better!

This year when I asked my Mom what she wanted for Christmas, she said, "Money or gift cards... or whatever you want." Helpful, eh? LOL When I told my sister, we came up with the idea of a Money Tree. We both pitched in a bunch of cash. Then she bought a little 14" prelit tree and added origami ornaments made out of money (plus some regular ornaments, too). As you can see, our Mom got quite a kick out of her Money Tree! The next day my Dad came in from outside and told my Mom he looked and looked, but he couldn't find any trees outside that had money on them. LOL!

Mom, FSOM (Favorite Sista of Mine), and Me

When I saw my niece UNDER the tree, it looked sooo familiar...

18 years earlier, it was her Uncle J under that same tree!

More "expressions" of my family:


The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

Her Dad 25 years earlier, at the *exact* same age:

Lastly, one of my favorite photos of this Christmas: