Tales of a Growing Family: The Christmas Festivities Have Begun!

One of my favorite things about Christmas is getting together with those family members that live far away. It is nice to just sit, visit and relax catching up on life. Of course there is always delicious food as well! Now that we have Lincoln it is so fun to see the cousins get together and play. This is one reason I have always wanted to have three children. My brother and I only have three first cousins, two of which we only saw around Christmas and they are all at least ten years younger than myself. It would be so much fun for Lincoln to have lots of cousins to grow up with! In case this doesn't happen, as Josh and I each only have one sibling, we have many friends with kids around Lincoln's age.

We usually make two trips down south every year. My dad's family lives in the Portland area and Josh's mom's side lives in Longview. With Brooklyn's estimated arrival date so close to Christmas both families graciously came up our way instead.

We spent Saturday at my parents house with my Grandma Bev and my aunts and uncles. It was great to see them along with my cousins, Alex and Logan. I can't believe how much they have grown since the last time I saw them.

Lincoln opening presents

Aaron and Necia's first Christmas as a married couple!

The original Riddell women, hehehe...

We can't forget Necia and myself :-)

Then there are the Riddell men. Funny, they are standing in age order and hair order! Jeff (left) is the youngest and has the least amount of hair. Steve (right) is the oldest and has the most. Then there is my dad who falls in the middle!

Logan, the eighth grader whose football team was undefeated this year!

Alex playing with Lincoln. She is so sweet! And she recently won a photo contest!

We spent Sunday at my in law's house and at Hop Jack's breaking bread and catching up. Josh's cousin has three kids one of which is only two months younger than Lincoln so it is really fun to see them all get together. Again, it's amazing how much they grow when you don't see them but every six months or so!