Christmastime is... Gone (Part, the Second)

After a very short stop home, we were off again. My family rented a house in Estes Park where we gathered for New Year's Weekend. We get to see each other a lot more frequently than Matt's side of the family, but it was still nice to sequester ourselves away for the weekend. And it was awesome that every member of our family was able to be there.

We had our big "Christmas" dinner on New Year's Eve, followed by our gift exchange.

The whole family at dinner.

For presents this year, we did our traditional pooling of money, with each person receiving one gift. But because a lot of the money pot went to renting the house, our gifts were less lavish - which is definitely ok by me! I like giving big gifts, but I also like remembering what Christmas is all about! And the kids got lots of gifts, of course.

Presents!

Though the theme was certainly "Christmas" up to that point, we still had a new year to ring in. The start of 2012 involved lots of football, food, shopping, games, and Christmas Carols.

Happy New Year!

We had to acknowledge a little one's birthday:

I'm sure she was happy to get some attention in all the craziness.

And then we just hung out. We ended the weekend with a rousing game of Telestrations, which was hilarious for those who played and highly obnoxious for those who heard us laughing from the other room. That's a pretty typical situation at Krause gatherings.

Best. Game. Ever.

And so, another Christmas has come and gone...