christmas in florida!

as mentioned previously, we’ve been trading off spending christmas with each side of the family in recent years, and this year was my mom’s side of the family.  my mom’s brother and sister-in-law hosted us at their beautiful new home in ocala, and our family traveled from far and wide to spend christmas together – my aunt and uncle from arizona, my cousin from tennessee, my other cousin from lousiana, and all of us texas folk. :)  [well, i was considered texas folk at the time, ha.]

their house fit us all pretty comfortably which is saying something since we’re a good-sized group!  we caught up, enjoyed the warm weather and took walks under enormous trees dripping with spanish moss, ate plenty of southern comfort food, played games and watched football, and gushed over my aunt and uncle’s adorable two-year-0ld grandson lawson.  mike and priscilla spent christmas eve with her side of the family, and my dad had to fly on christmas eve, so all three of them flew in on christmas day.  after a few delays, they finally made it in time for a late christmas dinner!  we were glad to see them and have the family all together on christmas.

and now for photo time:

{christmas in florida}

{isn’t this a lovely place to live?  we really liked my aunt and uncle’s new home.}

{aaaaand their gorgeous backyard}

{and their neighborhood…}

{aunt debbie had decorated the home so lovely for christmas.}

{the first night that we got there, my cousin arend and i stayed up til 4 am catching up.  we were literally the best of friends when we were little, and although we don’t see each other too often anymore, it was nice to just talk life late into the wee hours of the morning.  the next morning, though, my mom woke me up because the family was celebrating my graduation from culinary school with mimosas!  that was so sweet of them, and this family sure knows how to have fun.}

{this is lawson.  such a doll!}

{lawson got a new truck for christmas from his mimi and grandpa!}

{nothing like the excitement of a kid on christmas!}

{moving him into the yard!}

{he was pretty proud of himself, and we were pretty enamored with him!} ;)

{my cute dad in front of a retro-painted 737.  he had to spend christmas eve alone and we sure missed him.  thankfully he got to join us on christmas day [along with mike and priscilla].  love this man!}

 

{playing our family favorite – tripoly!}

{glad these two cuties could make it!  also, i don’t know what those little lights are on mike’s and priscilla’s faces.  maybe a reflection off priscilla’s gorgeous sparkly sweater?}

{the kojder kids!}

{also, these are the worst quality pictures… but this looks like an ordinary bathroom cabinet, right??}

{…WRONG!!  it turned out to be a passageway to a pretty big safe room!  the house was full of little secrets like this!}

{i should have gotten some pics inside that room.  it was pretty fascinating to me.}

{climbing out of the cabinet!}

{more games on the porch!}

{these pics of uncle greg and lawson are adorable!}

{uncle greg and aunt carol or “aunt whoa whoa” as we’ve always called her!}

{mimi, mom, and dad}

{mike and priscilla}

{arend and me… unfortunately ashlin had to go back to tennessee so she couldn’t join us at this dinner.  we missed her!}

{thank you so much to uncle mark and aunt debbie for hosting us!}

{family pics!}

{i’m the only one in this group who doesn’t have a jersey/who isn’t a major cowboys fan!  they were cute though!}

{i love her.}

{lots of board games.  this one, codenames, was soooo fun!}

{i love how uncle mark and mimi are deeply enveloped in the football game!}

{…see what i mean?!  these two are football fanatics.}  ;)

{on the way home…}

thank you to uncle mark and aunt debbie for the wonderful time!  it was great to see everyone!  xoxo