Christmas Cousins

We gathered for our annual Girls' Cousins Christmas Celebration this weekend.  It was nice to meet some extended family who came from out of the area, while some other cousins were missed.  I get it though.  It's hard to be everywhere all the time.  Besides church, this was all we had on the calendar--a girl day and it was such a blessing for my littlest especially.  She had so much fun singing and dancing with her cousins. That's just how my cousin and I used to spend Christmas Eve, so funny to watch our girls now!

Lene Bean is in the in-between years.  She's too old for the littles play, but not old enough for the adults. She found a good book and read a little bit and enjoyed playing for me in the gift exchange part.

Taking our annual picture was fun. Some of us threw on some festive hats and were messing around taking selfies.  Some others were not being a part of that nonsense.  It was funny! And we wore ugly sweaters again--well, some of us did anyways.  I wore mom's from last year because she had too much fun making a new one.

Sis in loves

At the end of the day, it was nice to squeeze in some girl time because we don't get together nearly enough any more.  I'm so thankful for our monthly family dinners for the simple fact that I get to check in with my brothers and sister and spend some time with my nephews.  If we don't intentionally plan for it, it doesn't happen.  And sometimes priorities are just different for different people.  I'm working on accepting people I love for that very reason and letting go of the bitterness pill I sometimes allow myself to swallow when they choose not to show up.  I get things happen, kids get sick, life happens. . .but it's hard when none of the above are reasons--All I can control are my actions and showing our children the importance of showing up and being able to count on the people we are growing together in this household.  That's all I can do.

For now, this weekend was an enjoyable celebration of girl cousins, catching up on visits that were long over due.  Christmas blessings at their finest.