Jackson Christmas

Christmas Eve with Josh's family is one of my favorite traditions. We usually gather at Nana and Papa's house. But with Nana's recent sickness she wasn't up to hosting this year. And I'll admit- hosting a Jackson get together is no small task! There are a LOT of us! And we are loud. We can't help it. Well- maybe we could- but it's in our genes!
How crazy is it that these two are dressed in their Christmas clothes...and flip flops!!

We all arrived around 5 and conversations started. There is NEVER a lack of conversation in this group. What I really love is that one minute you will look around the room and everyone is huddled in smaller groups chatting away, and if you come back in 5 minutes, the groups have all changed and everyone is talking to someone new! You never leave and feel like "Oh- I never got to talk to ____". Everyone visits with everyone. It warms my heart to see.
As soon as I unloaded the cokes from the box and read them, I knew I needed a picture with SANTA!

Eating started soon, and boy did we EAT! As is usual in a Pool/Jackson gathering, there was enough food to feed a small LARGE army! We had 3 kinds of enchiladas, rice, beans, tortilla soup, chips, dips, guacamole, and SO MUCH MORE! If you left hungry- that was your own fault!
Several of us gathered outside to eat... (there were more, but I didn't locate my selfie stick until they had already gotten up)

It was starting to get a little chilly- so several opted to stay inside where it was warm.

This conversation looked pretty serious...

I was so excited to spot Josh sitting next to his Nana. I took the picture, but I didn't look closely enough at it and Josh's eyes are closed! I was so sad! But other than that, it is still a great picture of the two of them and shows the pride in his smile as he sits next to his precious Nana.

Next up- it was present time! We decided to let the kids open up theirs first so that we could then push them outside to play while us adults got down and dirty with Chinese Christmas! But first up we had to line them up for a photo op!

After we had them lined up, they wanted to sing "Poor Old Santa Claus". This is a song that Papa wrote to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus" many years ago, and Becky has taught it to all three grandkids. Abel just kind of joined in since it was his first time for the song. :) But the girls had been begging to sing it all day long since they knew it was "Papa's song". So they started it, and the whole family joined in. It was beyond AWESOME! I wish I could post the video here so that I could keep it on the blog, but I don't know how. I do foresee this being a new tradition on Christmas Eve for the kids to lead us all in singing it together!
These two beauties were so excited to open presents!!

It is so HARD to watch them both open presents and know who got what and from whom. And I really like to see what all they got and their reactions to it. Just the way we have always done things in my family, and it's a moment I want to savor. But sometimes it just doesn't work out that way when there is so many people opening presents. Just not enough time to open one at a time! LOL! But I did sit between them and watch as much as I could! And Josh helped Macie while I helped Brenna. (not that they need much help, but still...)They got so many wonderful goodies!!
This bag was as big as Brenna! Aunt Rhonda stocked them up on arts and crafts! When she asked what to get them for Christmas, I told her to get them new markers, crayons and map pencils since I was planning on throwing away ALL of the ones we have. Ours were broken, some were missing, and markers were dry. SO I was ready to have a fresh and ORGANIZED start! But she went above and beyond and filled this whole bag with that plus tons of other arts and crafts for them. They LOVED it!

Macie was excited over all of her Littlest Pet Shop stuff!!

And this picture right here was one of my favorites from the whole night!

Jana got her some clothes from Justice (her favorite store-my biggest nightmare). And when she got to the bottom of the bag...there were UNDERWEAR in it! Oh the horror!!!! Underwear to open in front of your whole family on Christmas! haha!!! She wouldn't even pull them out of the sack and whispered in my ear what was in the bottom and that she was NOT pulling it out for everyone to see! I died laughing! And Jana came over to talk to her about it. You can see the disgust on Brenna's face. She wouldn't even look up she was so embarrassed! hahaha!!!! I've got money that says she gets new undies from her Aunt Jana every Christmas from now on!
And I just LOVE these two little monsters munchkins! They adore each other, and it melts my heart!

Macie Claire and Papa having a heart to heart..

After the kids finished, it was the adults turn!! We used to draw names for gifts, but we decided several years ago to do a Chinese gift exchange instead. The guys buy a guy gift, and the girls buy a girl gift. It adds a lot of fun to the evening!!
Josh got the first number and opened the first present. It sparked a lot of interest from ALL of the guys in the room!

I think Papa opened the best gift of the night!

Everyone got a big ole laugh out of it! But Joey was a little attached to it and stole it from him. haha!
I didn't get a SINGLE picture of the girls gift exchange! How on earth?? I guess I was too busy paying attention to the gifts that were being opened so that I knew what I wanted! :) I ended up with a BEAUTIFUL cross for my wall!
After all of the presents had found new owners, these guys knew what time it was...

KNIFE TIME!
Every year Papa spreads out brand new knives for all of the guys to choose from. They each leave with a new Papa knife. It's their favorite part of the night. I think they really REALLY enjoy fighting with each other to see who can go in first and who can push more people out of the way to get to the knives first! As soon as Papa gave them the go ahead- they ran into the bedroom like a bunch of little kids on Christmas morning looking to see what Santa brought!
I guess Jeff couldn't get close enough to get a good look at the goods.... So he found a better way!

I know that Josh's "Papa knives" are some of his most treasured possessions. It's not really about the knife... it's about WHO the knife is from.
These two had a BLAST decorating the cookies that Aunt Sue brought for them!

I took some selfies with some of my favorite peeps...just to prove I was there!! haha!
My mostest favorite Mother In Love..

And in true Becky fashion, she had to "fluff" her hair before she would allow me to take the picture!
My awesome Sister In Love!!

Seriously.... what is it about the 3 of us and black shirts??? Every time we show up somewhere together, we are all wearing black shirts! You'd think that was all we owned!
And MY Daddy!!! (with a Sue photo bomber!!!)

One more time...

I love this man. I couldn't have made it through the holidays without him. He always has a shoulder for me to cry on and an open ear to listen to me vent. He never judges me and supports me unconditionally. When he was leaving later on that night, I fell apart. I had held it together pretty well up until that point. But when he headed to his truck, the reality of him leaving..alone.... hit me. And the absence of Mom was so heavy on my heart that it just broke into a million pieces once again. But my Daddy was there with open arms. We cried together. We got through it... together. We comforted each other. And he assured me it was going to be ok. And I knew it was. But some moments are just more than I can handle. And after a good cry, and a long Daddy hug, and my amazing husband standing by my side, I regained my composure and things were ok again. I just needed that moment. I think we both did. I had pushed it back and fought it all night but I couldn't do it any longer. And honestly... I felt better after I let it out. I should remind myself to do that more often.
I was so thankful that we decided to do family pictures while we were all together!! Luckily Hana brought her boyfriend (who took a ton of teasing by the Jackson men... poor guy!) and he took pictures for us!
Where it all began....

The love that these two precious people have for each other is amazing. They are a wonderful example for us all.
The original Jackson 6!

The 2nd phase of the Jackson clan... Kids and spouses..

The grandkids and great grandkids...

And finally.... the WHOLE CREW!!

I can't even begin to tell you how blessed I am by this group. God was doing some of his amazing work when he made me a part of this family. These people love you no matter what. They are always there for each other, and pray harder than most anyone else I know. When we all join hands to pray before a meal... the love that you can feel in that circle is indescribable. It will bring you to tears before anyone even starts speaking. It's one of my most favorite things in the whole world. THIS is what family is. No matter what the situation is... this group is gonna love you through it.
Before we knew it, it was time to head home and get ready for a special visitor... SANTA CLAUS!!!!