Christmas Adam, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day 2024

We had such a lovely two-week Christmas break (love those Wednesday Christmases!) and I wanted to jot down the memories for the Martin Family Blog Book 2024.  Here we goooooooo....

On the Saturday before Christmas, we all went to volunteer at My Brother's Keeper which was so much fun and very touching and something I want to keep up.  We were given wish lists for two families with their gift preferences and sizes, and then we shopped in the warehouse which was overflowing with donations (our kids schools collected lots of toys to donate) and then wrapped and labeled the gifts for the families.  To make it even more *memorable* some Martins picked the biggest and most difficult presents to wrap:

Not pictured was a tricycle that Phil wrapped with much success!

On Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve) the kids had their Sibling Swap, with Eamon winning the prize for most creative wrapping - the gift was inside multiple bags and suitcases wrapped in tape, and Andrew winning the prize for most creative gift - he gave JP a real gift plus a joke gift of a fish that now lives on our kitchen counter.  Have kids, they said ;)

Brendan finished his Christmas Tree Advent Calendar with pride:

On Christmas Eve, we give the kids each one gift which this year was cans of pringles.

We always eat pringles and watch tv when we stay at a hotel, and on the bottom of these special pringles were letters that were rearranged to spell Camelback because we told them we were taking them to Camelback Resort on the day after Christmas!

Then we got ready for Mass to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  There were lots of servers and it was standing room only in our parish.  Loves it.

When we got home, Jesus was placed in his manger in each of our nativities and in my parent's nativity downstairs:

We had some family and friends over for dinner and a birthday cake for Jesus and games of poker and karaoke:

Once everyone left, the tired elves went to work to set up for Christmas morning:

At 7 am on the dot, the kids were in their spots on the stairs for the annual Christmas morning picture: 

The calm before the storm:

Here comes the storm:

This looks chaotic, but we let them rip through their stockings first and then we open presents one by one, rotating through kids, until the last one is opened.  So, more of an orderly chaos :)

Maggie loved her new chunky blanket and *beautiful* volleyball sneakers as well as the gift of tickets to see Riverdance with me (a suprise from Phil to us).

Eamon got the traditional "I'm going to college soon" gift of luggage and then was surprised with a ticket to see the Washington Commanders play on December 29th!  Phil and Andrew got the same gift :)

I had created fake tickets because everything is on the phone nowadays, and put their Commanders tickets inside customized Commanders gatorade bottles.  Such fun!

The littles were very surprised to get tickets to Dude Perfect's World Tour this summer!  They found their tickets wrapped up in a Dude Perfect shirt they can wear when we go :)

JP didn't get any tickets but received lots of nice new gifts for his med school apartment (an air fryer, a fancy coffee maker, and a generic ApplePlay for his elderly car).  Plus everyone got lots of clothes and shoes and stockings filled with little gifts and candies.  It was a very enjoyable day for all which makes my mama's heart happy.  But wait!  There was one more gift to be found in a ten-clue scavenger hunt:

I'd like to thank AI for helping me make those clues which led to them finding a ticket to Busch Gardens when we take them to Williamsburg this April.  Oh the excitement!!  We had a nice breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon and extra coffee then headed off to my brother Sean's new house to celebrate with my side of the family:

The blonde female cousins

The crazy Sweeney Swap where the rules always seem to change

We were ALL together for Christmas 2024 - my parents, their six kids plus their spouses, and all 22 grandchildren - so we had to take a photo, and luckily my nephew's girlfriend was there to take it:

How many more Christmases will we have all together?  One never knows and I am so grateful for all we have been given thus far.  Next up, the rest of Christmas break!  Stay tuned!