Is it Christmas already?

For the Ebright clan, it's DONE! We all met in KC last weekend and had an early family get-together.  Well, not ALL of us...that's a humongous number of Ebrights...but Alan and all of his siblings and better halves. Alan is 3rd gray-haired guy (they all have gray hair) in back row. He's the baby of the 5 sibs!

Are you noticing that Christmas traditions and celebrations have to evolve as your kids get older? The word of the holiday is now FLEXIBLE, as you try to accommodate in-laws, babies (darn, none here!) and all that. Chatting with some of my girlfriends, I realize these adjustments can be tricky (very tricky sometimes). But I am determined to be available whenever it works, and go with the (new) holiday flow. 

Since Alan's parents are no longer here to host us on the family farm, Alan's siblings have made an effort to get everyone together...if only briefly, and not on the real date. It's casual, lasts only a day, and it's really fun! Most of the gang lives in KC so we make the 3 hour drive north. We ate, talked, watched a ballgame, and enjoyed each other's company all day, sans kids and grandkids. 

Later that afternoon, we welcomed whatever kids and grandkids were able to join us. As darkness closed in we did our annual Ebright caroling. Alan's family has been doing this FOREVER...just check out the vintage family picture below. Don't they look positively Rockwell-esque? Alan is the grinner on the bottom right.

Here are a few of our caroling clan this year. I'm taking style advice from Santa, wearing my red pants!

After caroling, we settled in for an outdoor hotdog/s'more roast.

We also welcomed the newest member of the family. His older boy cousins are chatting him up below.

Thanks to Alan's sisters for organizing this and pulling it off.  The 5 Ebright siblings have certainly gotten older, but never too old for a funny face photo!