There are so many...how do you guys do it? Let me explain.

New mittens that go half way up his arm...they are great for playing in the snow!
Christmas morning cinnamon rolls...since Jeff's childhood.
Cookies for Santa...apples and carrots for the reindeer.
Mom's tree.
Christmas morning with one extra this year. :)
We had snow! on Christmas Eve.
The reason Frankie is in most of my photos...hand up. all.the.time.
He gave me a new yoga mat...so we can do yoga together...he does a great downward dog.
{Heart Eyes!!!}
Pajamas from Papa and Nana.
The night before Christmas..and all through the house...
My newest little niece!!! Collette Marie. Such a little dolly.

I have lots of siblings and sister in laws and brother in laws and
my parents are up to 23 grand kids as of last week!
There are 40 of us at the moment...not including grandparents.

People are always asking us...."How do you do Christmas presents with so many?"
We do a grab bag!

This is how it works.

We choose names...within a category.
Women with the women.
Men with the men.
Little girls choose a little girl.
Little boys choose a little boy.
{We pick names early...once we even did it on Christmas Eve for the next year.
That way we have all year to shop and think about the person we are buying for!}

Doing it this way makes it fun for the kids to buy gifts.
My 6 year old nephew would much rather pick out a truck for a boy cousin
than buy a baby doll for a 2 year old girl cousin!

Same with the adults.
I know the guys would rather buy guy stuff instead of shopping at
Ulta choosing perfumes and make up brushes for a sister in law. Ha!

Once the kids are older and can pay for their own gift...they may participate in the adult grab bag.
It's their decision when they join. It usually happens in the late teen years.

We love doing it this way for a number of reasons.

1. You can focus on one person and really put a lot of thought into the gift you are buying.
2. We all save money.
3. Rather than buying bunch of little presents..you can buy a bigger, better quality gift.

My parents still buy each of the grand kids a new pair of pajamas for them to wear home.
The kids love it and look forward to changing out of their Christmas clothes into fresh pj's.

Doing Christmas this way works great for our family.
I love how the kids put thought into the person they have.
The kids get so excited to give their gifts because it's them doing the giving...
not just us parents buying and wrapping mass quantity so everyone has a gift.

It's more thought out and meaningful.

....and that's how we do it in our great, big family.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!!!
XxOo