Celebrating Christmas With My Family on the Solemnity of Mary The Mother of God

What a day! 

Today was our family Christmas celebration with my side of the family. 

 When my niece (Julia 12yo) arrived for our family Christmas party today, 

she had these cookies that she made and decorated. We were all so impressed we probably took more pictures of it than we did of any of the kids! 

Before sitting down to eat lunch, I spent a few minutes 

with the kids in honor of this special day.

I had them light the candles (kids do love fire!)

  

We used this from Tiffany's blog as a jumping of point: 

The Fleur-de-lis with its three petals united by a single stem has embedded in its emblematic symbolism Mary’s own supernatural relationship to the Holy Trinity:

Mary is the daughter of the father,

the Mother of the Son,

And the bride of the Holy Spirit.

(Magnificat, December 2010)

Beautiful.

The Fleur-de-lis is also considered a symbol of purity.

 I read this short page from Tomie de Paola's book,

"Mary The Mother of Jesus", to all of the cousins. 

Pointed out today on Waltzing Matilda's blog-
Our Blessed Mother's last documented words are 

"Do whatever He tells you." (from the above story) I just love that! 

 After we ate, we started partying! We don't do a gift exchange... we play DOO-DOO!! 

 Each player is given six cards. They keep the same six cards the whole game- mix matched card decks can be dealt as long as a player does not have two of the exact same card. Between rounds, to mix it up, the "caller" will randomly tell all the players to pass a card to the player on his left. Other than that, the the players keep their cards- no new hands are dealt.

Then the caller (using a complete card deck) calls the cards one at a time. In bingo like fashion, the players turn over the card if they have the one called. 

When a player has turned over all six of his cards he jumps up and yells 

"DOO-DOO!" and goes to the prize table to pick a present.

hubby calling cards

  The caller designates the number of winners per round- one time hubby set five winners, but three people won on the same card, so that round had 7 winners. 

Sometimes we play until everyone has won a prize in a round. 

The rounds can be mixed up- sometimes the caller will do "colors". When the caller picks a card, he tells just the color. The players turn over one card of that color. Suit can be done as well. But, only one card is ever turned over on a call. 

When the game is over, the fun really begins. Each player gets to pick a certain number of prizes (4 today) to put in his/her gift bag. Those prizes are "keepers". 

The rest are set on the table for trades. 

The players, in turns, get to choose any other player's prize to trade with (trades go in "keeper" bag). After each player does this, the kids all trade among themselves. The cutest part is the kids often "gift" other people their prizes. My Goddaughter won and gifted me a lovely photo ornament. My son traded a prize for an oven mitt that I wanted! 

Whew! We all had such a great time. 

 We took this picture after one daughter had gone home and before another daughter arrived, so this is part of the group. All 3 of my brother's boys, all 5 of my sister's children, 5 of my children, and 2 of my grandchildren. 

 Daughter holding her nephew with her son laying on the couch. 

 And, no Christmas party is complete without "Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus". We also have a Christmas birthday boy, so we sung to him and he blew out the candles. 

From Gardenia at My Little Flower and prayed today at our house before grace: 

Dear Blessed Mary, Guide us through this new year, daily, 

and lead us always to your Son, Our Lord. 

Thanking God for family and for the good weather that allowed room to enjoy them all!! That it was a bright warm day, even here in sunny CA, is miraculous. I really wanted to host my family, but our little 960 sq. ft. house would have been bursting at the seams with all (28 total) of us. I am so grateful to have the blessing of this day together!