Family, Christmas, friends, NYE, and repeat.

We've had nonstop Christmas around here for the last two weeks. Between celebrations, we had playdates on top of playdates. We have made the absolute most out of the Christmas break.

We celebrated with my family on 12/22 (Saturday) and because my mom got the flu, we had to change gears and hosted here. It was a lot of fun- we played games, ate, drank, and played more games. The kids were all up until close to 11, which was just the beginning of the holiday fun. We missed my mom, so much. We changed up the tradition this year, no kids gifts, games instead and it was amazing how they didn't even miss them. It was all about being together and not about the gifts.

We celebrated on 12/24 with a stop over to my parents' for a grandkid photo followed by a visit to Julie's grave and then a party at Alex and Mandy's house. It was so fun, I actually forgot for about 20 minutes that my kids were there. They play so well with their cousins, its actually a dream come true. We got home in time for a late bedtime and then Dave and I had to prep for Christmas morning. So many late nights!

Christmas was very relaxed. We stayed put for most of the day, enjoyed gifts and breakfast in the morning followed by veg time and Christmas light viewing in the evening - where the kids (mostly) fell asleep.

We also had a Christmas party with Grandma Helen at her place. It was really nice, we had cookies, cider and coffee and a pretty epic game of UNO. It was easy and fun and everyone had a great time.

After the Christmas fun, we had playdate after playdate followed with a three night sleepover with Anna and Isaac. The kids had a blast, I was exhausted! I could hardly keep up with the dishes, messes, and trash! Haha. It was worth it.

We capped it off with a very low key NYE gathering. We had a hot fudge sundae bar, games, and wine. We did stay faithful to NYE tradition and had a puker, but in our case it was Piper after eating way too many M&Ms. It was a true treat to play scrabble and catch phrase with my parents, Isaac even got in on the fun. Everyone left by 10 and Dave fell asleep with the kids so I sat up and perused social media until the ball dropped at midnight. We are all looking forward to what 2019 has in store.

We have one final Christmas celebration this weekend with the Munce side of the family at our house and then we will pack up the Christmas mess and fun until next year.

Wow!

Connelly family Christmas, the boys lead the prayer.
(this is the only photo I got of the whole evening :().

Christmas Eve photo.

Sprinkling reindeer dust on Julie's grave.
Daddy's girls comforting him. 

Greta- Christmas Eve, loves to work on her letters. 

Christmas Eve fun. 

Pulled it all together! Ready for the morning chaos.

Let the fun begin...

...and a few tears ;).

Haha, a view of the photo taking fun. 

Taking in the lights at the falls. 

Sleepover fun. 

Christmas fun with grandma Helen and UNO! 

Drinking snow through a straw :).

We got snow! There is never enough snow!

Honorary water boys at the DeLaSalle game.
Sully is finally old enough to be part of the fun.

More sledding and snow fun. 

And we snuck in a dental visit.

NYE

Family-pizza-party-matchy-match.

Me and my girls. 

Maggie's reaction after she plays and illegal word. 

According to my dad, it was his first time playing Scrabble,
which you could confirm by the first 3 point word he played.