we spent another fun family christmas with the fellins and the spences this year. all the fellin siblings reunited in conyngham by sunday, dec. 23 — also known as casino day! kids and adults alike played bingo and trivia games for fabulous prizes. uncle joe and aunt cathy godinsky also joined us this year, driving all the way from illinois.

during the weekend, jackson enjoyed playing with all his cousins, taking baths with the barainyak boys, showing eva how to stack blocks and play the xylophone, wrestling with colin, kissing on sarah and maura and watching quinn “give love a bad name” at the karaoke machine.

on monday, we all gathered at mom and dad’s house for the traditional fish and pierogies dinner, and present exchange. everybody filled up on scallops, crab cakes, flounder, shrimp, pierogies, babalki, sauerkraut and beans and mushrooms — well, everyone except beth of course! molly’s best friend jay showed up just before we all departed, for his annual visit.

we arrived back in frederick in the early morning hours of christmas day, got jackson settled into bed and helped santa arrange the gifts under the tree. by mid-morning, we had woken up — for the first time ever — in our own house on christmas day! a few hours later, the spences (kurt and marcia) arrived bearing lots of presents.

molly and dave were able to sneak away while jackson napped to see a matinee (“Juno” — highly recommended), and then we all enjoyed a delicious dinner of filet mignon, roasted potatoes, asparagus and rolls.

the next day molly returned to work, and the holiday season was all but over!

it went quickly, but it was a lovely, memorable time. the gifts were great, but the quality time with family was the real present this year!