More first Christmas celebration

Every year, my very close friends have a Christmas party. We have been doing this for years and we have been friends since high school, so it is really so wonderful that after all these years we still are close friends and celebrate with each other. We have grown over the years, adding spouses and children, so we are now 12 adults and 12 children strong!

Look at all these kids!! Can't believe we got them all to sit still for this picture.



The adults get to sit and eat at a table together with nice china, which is very fun and something we don't get to do often. The kids get to eat together at the kids table. Next year Baby Bear will be able to join them. Look at how cute they are toasting each other. (This was totally their own spontaneous idea to toast, it was so cute!)



Of course, what the kids look forward to most is opening presents!! Because the number of kids have grown over the years, we now have the kids draw names. It is really fun to watch all the kids open their presents all at once. It is chaos, but so much fun. Besides what kid is patient enough to wait their turn to open their present.



Once the kids are done opening their gifts, they are off to play. Then the adults can play games. We have our own white elephant gift exchange and some other games. This year we played a Dress up Santa game. The prize, MONEY!! Papa Bear and I didn't win, but it was a ton of fun to play!







Christmas with good friends, what more could you want. What a wonderful first Christmas for Baby Bear!