Christmas Eve

Another fun year of "Chinese Christmas" at Grandma Vikki's:

 

 

Chillin' with the babies before the big game.

Brandon and Nolan are going to earn money in the Circus to pay for medical school.  Brandon starts school in the Grand Caymans in January, so we won't see them for a few years. I don't think his Circus gig will last very long, with the way Nolan is growing!

 

The anticipation!

We had a good sized group this year...33 people!  Roya brought her fiance and his daughter, the princess.

The newlyweds, Zach and Emily were there for the beginning of the game, but they had to leave early.  (Emily is hiding behind Jonathan.) We think they showed up just to help Jonathan's family cheat...when they left, they gave their numbers to Kalyn and Alexis, with the "promise" that the girls would give them the gifts they chose with their numbers.  We retaliated by sending Nate over to spy on them.

Our friends, the Hansens, were there, too.  Kate was thrilled with the gift she opened...an arm rest organizer and some popcorn!  Mariann gave me the gift that she would have brought if she hadn't moved to Texas and insisted I bring to to the party. I kept it in my closet for four months, waiting for the big reveal. Kate was only a little bit sad when Alicia stole it from her.

Tattoo sleeves were one of the more popular "stealers" this year...

  

They made the rounds...

 

at least among the Van Akens.

 

 After the party, we lit off one of the sky lanterns that was another of the "stealers."

 

 They're really beautiful to watch, but it was a little scary when it almost got caught in a tree!

 Fortunately, it made it over and we watched until it was no bigger than a star, glittering in the night sky.