Thompson Family Christmas Eve

I figured this needed a post in itself! I purposely slept late on Christmas Eve knowing that it would be a late night and it was, but it was a lot of fun!

We really had nothing going on during the day. Kaci, Teresa, and I just kind of lazed around the house most of the day. The guys went to shoot guns! I got ready and met them at Stooges around 4. The Thompsons are a large family. My father-in-law, John has 4 siblings who are all always in Jackson for Christmas. Between him and the 4 siblings (1 sister is deceased) there are 13 grandchildren, 9 people married in, 3 great-grandchildren, and a partridge and a pear tree. Just kidding. There were 29 of us there I believe on Christmas Eve. There were some family members unable to make it.

Kody’s grandparents are no longer living on his dad’s side, but his Aunt Robin and Uncle Joe moved into their home to take care of them at the end of their life. They now live in the house and so they’ve brought their own things in, but it still looks like it did when his grandparents left (dining room, living room, upstairs, etc.) They have made some upgrades though! So it’s neat that they have Christmas Eve in the house they grew up in. In the picture where John is holding Drew and everyone else has their hands up was during the prayer. Open Shut, Give a little clap, Open Shut, fold them in your lap, God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen. That’s the Thompson prayer and the youngest one always leads.

We played games, ate a big prime rib dinner, and then opened gifts. Thankfully we don’t have to buy for all 293472938 of them. Instead, everyone gets money and the girls get a piece of jewelry. We played some hilarious games afterwards. They included blowing up little balloons and sticking them in panty hose and the first one to get 10 balloons in the stockings and walk through the living room singing jingle bells with the stocking on your head like a reindeer won. Hilarious. We won and Grandma was our reindeer. Also, we wrapped people in paper for the best outfit. Again, hilarious and my husband’s picture is not on here because it was not pretty! HA! Kody’s Aunt Trudy looked beautiful in her blue ensemble.

Riley, Trudy, Grandma, and Uncle Jim (all with the exception of Grandma are Texas Thompsons)

Erica loved these light fingers…she really liked them…

Susan graciously took over the games from us this year and I know the family is appreciative, they would have been bored with the game I came up with!

As you can see we had a great time. In all of my years with Kody (9), this was my first experience at Thompson Christmas Eve. I was thrilled to see family we don’t see often (Texas Thompsons) but we talked on the way home we wished everyone could also get together one weekend in the summer where it was just a big reunion, same time every year. I know 2 of his cousins weren’t able to make it and once we have kids we probably won’t travel on Christmas Eve so it’s just hard when you want to see everyone. We only saw them that day though! :( Hopefully we’re able to make it again soon, we’ll for sure see them at cousin BJ’s wedding in October! That’s one good thing about a big family, lots of fun weddings!

And just for fun, looks at these pictures of the Thompsons through the years…that still hang on the pink, wallpapered walls….Can you tell who is who? Seriously, these crack me up!!!