Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge - Day 7!

Wow, I am just a blogaholic these days! I am posting all the time I feel like! I think I have made it my goal to reach 100 posts in 2011 by the end of the year. Pretty sure I can do that since after this post, I will only have 11 more to do!

First, off I want to say thanks to everyone who congratulated me on the White Rock Half Marathon and hi to those people who have found themselves here from SkinnyRunner! For those of you who do not know who SR is, I have been following her blog for well over a year now and she is one of my daily (sometimes multiple) reads. She is a super funny, crazy runner (she runs like back to back marathons in one weekend) who blogs about running, her life, celebrities, just about anything! Her blog is definitely worth checking out! She likes to feature her "reader runners", so I emailed her and told her about my race and she posted about it on her last blog post. Pretty cool!

Today's topic is "How do you celebrate the holidays?" Well, this topic could be interpreted a lot of ways, so I will just stick with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Since getting married and blending two families celebrations, Eric and I have had to do some rearranging of our traditions.

As I posted on the Holiday Traditions challenge, my family always gets together with my Dad's side of the family, Aunt Ginger, my three cousins, Jenna, Avery, and Drake, Grandmother, and my Uncle Ben. We go to my parents house and have chili and tamales. Depending on what time church is, we eat before or after. After dinner and church, we open our "family presents". We go around and someone plays "Santa" and passes the gifts out individually. My nephew, Mason, is now the Santa usually. My brother and his family get to be with us every other Christmas since they alternate between Dallas and Houston for Christmas.

 All the cousins

We also usually have a very special visitor. Santa actually comes to visit our house! :)

Eric's family Christmas Eve is usually a nice dinner, like cannelloni. We go to his parents house, with his sister and her family, and Eric's grandmother, City Mama. Somehow it all works out that we are able to make it to all these festivities! After all the eating and presents, Eric and I come home and sit in front of our tree and do presents for each other and for Ollie.

The next morning we head first to Eric's family's house and do presents with all of his family and then enjoy a traditional Christmas lunch. They eat earlier than my family so it works out.

 Eric's Mom with Blair, who was only 4 months old last Christmas

In my new Carhart jacket. Perfect for the ranch!

We then head over to my house, where we do "Santa" presents and then the extended family comes back over and we have another big lunch!

In years past, we all go see a movie, but lately with two Christmases under our belts in one day, Eric and I like to go home and just relax! I know it is going to get even crazier when we have kids, so if this is it for now, I will enjoy it! I can't wait for this Christmas! I will finally get to meet my new baby neice Merrit! My brother and his family come in on the 18th so we are doing Christmas early with them since it is their year to be in Houston on actual Christmas. So this year I guess I have three Christmases! 

How do you celebrate?!