Chinese Christmas

One of my favorite parties at Christmas time is when we have our Chinese gift exchange with my dad's whole extended side of the family. We have a great family full of lots of laugh and love. This year was bittersweet because we lost my Great-Uncle Perry a few months ago. I know it was hard for his kids and my Granny but they made it through the day. I remember the first Christmas after my dad passed away and how hard I knew it would be. I seriously didn't even want to go to family events like this because I just couldn't imagine my dad not being there. It was hard but after i sucked it up and went it actually ended up being very comforting for me. My family is my life-line and I needed them like they needed me to make it through. I know that this year will be so hard for my Aunt Winnie, Brian, Clayton and Nicole - I will have some special prayers coming their way. We have done this exchange since I was a little girl (seriously WAY before anyone had ever heard of it) We used to have to explain what type of gift exchange it was all the time. I think my aunt is the one who heard about it and wanted us to start doing it. I am so glad that we do! It is one of the only times that we get to see all that family. After this many years we have had a lot of great gifts and then a few of the worst gifts including car wheel spinners from Wal-Mart, a GIANT black bra that my 14 yr old cousin opened, this nasty dollar store cologne called "Talley Ho" and the famous adult sized pink onesie! Hilarious! This year did not disappoint! The good thing is that we always pair those awful gag gifts with a gift card so no one is stuck with crap. It was hosted by my aunts this year at Granny's house and there was SOOOOO much food - seriously ridiculous!! I should have snapped a picture. Here are a few that I did snap...