The Gwilliam Family

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2023

We had a wonderful Sabbath Day Christmas Eve. First we attended church. It was a one hour combined Sacrament meeting with Odessa 2nd ward. There were two speakers and lots of congregational Christmas hymns. A perfect way to celebrate Christmas.

My friend, Alma Merriman, and I both sporting our new dresses. Mine was a $24 Walmart find-woot woot! I was cracking up when I got home because as I looked more closely at the tag, I realized it was from the maternity section. Works for me!

Not my most flattering picture, but I guess my dad (illegally) snapped this picture of our row during church. (Gram, me, Aub, Bryn, Bri and Park)

Church was at 10:30 and then we headed to Kerry's at 1:00 for our traditional extended family plus a few friends Christmas Eve gathering. It was such a blessing that my mom could come, especially since she had already been to church. That is a lot physically and emotionally for her. My dad had to convince her to get back in the car, but she seemed very pleased to be there which I definitely consider a tender mercy.

Charity, Gracie, Gram and Britney

Gram and my brother Nate

She was chatting it up with Adam! It was just a jumble of randomness, but Adam was all in. (Beth and Nate in the background)

Some families shared a talent. Just as the wisemen brought gifts to baby Jesus, sharing talents is our gift to each other. It was fun to have my cousin Thomas and his family there. They usually don't make it. This is his son, Easton, sharing a song on the piano for his talent.

The audience

Front row left-right: Gram, Parker, Benja, Lincoln, Charity with Noah, Jake and Christian

Middle: Britney, Courtney (Holden's girlfriend), Tanner, Erin, Bryn, Aubrey, La, Chris, John & Shari Martin

Back: Kerry & Brian standing, Laurel, Alma Merriman, Spencer & Donna Thompson, Thomas Pitt & Danielle

Grandpa called Erin up because it was her birthday, and we all sang to her.

Spencer sharing a story from his mission. They also made an AI generated crossword puzzle that had Vore family clues to complete it. (This person is known as a one of the kindest members of the family or this person is a big tease. There were much harder clues. I just can't remember them.)

And Donna gave my mom a watercolor painting she made.

We haven't shared a family talent in years, but Brian had a great idea to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Kaide was the star. The whole group joined in, and he loved it. He clapped when we finished and then signed "again" right away, so the entire room complied!

The musical Vores were impressive as usual. They played the bells, the guitar and sang.

Braddock and Charlotte

After talents, a few of the older cousins helped the younger ones pick out a costume for the nativity.

CJ, little Vore boys, Brinley and Ang

Aubrey, Kaide and Hudson

Ang with her grandbaby Noah

Back row: Ella, Emerson Pitt, Braddock and Hudson
Front row: Ang, Noah, Lincoln, Char, Christian, Bryn, Kaide, CJ and Danielle

We came home and napped and later regrouped to have Family Home Evening and play JackBox games.

I love this Christmas wreath that has the names of Christ etched in the wood. I think Aubrey went over to Lauron's for a few hours so she wasn't with us, but Brian, Park, Brinley and I read "The Living Christ" and then shared which name of Christ represented how He was in our lives this past year. There was a wonderful feeling of peace and love in our home.

Due to missions, this is the first time in three years we have been together for Christmas. It's been really nice with Parker and Brinley home and Tanner, Erin & Kaide stopping by enjoy being together over the holidays.

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Sibling Christmas Party

It's that time of year again. The big Sibling gift exchange. Britney and Adam do a fabulous job of hosting. They make a delicious spread of food, and Britney plans lots of creative timed games.

This year, Adam grilled sausage and Brit made beans, potato salad, cornbread and coleslaw. Beth brought a green salad and Ang brought dessert. We feasted! After visiting and eating we moved on to games and then the gift exchange.

There was a lot of laughter, teasing, competing and fun had by all.

Ang, Brit, Quetta, Kerry, Nate, Beth and me

Brit and I found our lovely, cough-cough, jumpers on Temu for 11.99. They were super comfy and festive. I think I heard more than one comment that someone didn't realize it was a pajama party. Maybe next year we should do that!

We played four games, and Brit had medals for the winners.

Flip the cups to win in Tic Tac Toe. I could not flip one cup!

How many candles can you blow out in one breath? I was the top girl in this but didn't make it to the finals because I was 4th overall.

Video of me and Brian competing in the candle blow.

Chris vs Adam

Reindeer Hooves game: who can collect the most marshmallows on their plate using their solo cup hoofs.

Here are a few videos. I love hearing all of the laughing, cheering, talking and joking in the background.

Boys competing for the finals in the Reindeer game.

Video of Ang rolling her Oreo

and of Quetta gagging on her Oreo dipped in Ranch.

The terrifying Oreo roll game. Roll your Oreo down the table into a cup of lime juice, Ranch, mustard, Siracha hot sauce, milk or cash. You get to enjoy your dipped Oreo. If it lands in the cash, you get $20. If it lands on the ground, the group picks which cup and how thoroughly your cookie gets dipped. I had the lime juice. It reminded me of drinking spoiled milk. Quetta almost threw up. I think she had Ranch. Chris had hot sauce, and it was not pleasant. Sadly, no one won cash. Brit and Adam BOTH landed in milk. (Well, Adams landed flat, between two cups, so he got to choose.) What?! Maybe they practiced beforehand. (kidding.)

The WINNERS of the games.

The losers....

On to the gift exchange where everyone was a winner.

Group shot: Nate and Beth, Quetta and Kerry, Ang and Chris, Dad, me and Brian, Brit and Adam (missing Becky and Brian)

One pretty cute thing about this year is the oldest cousin, Adam (30), got the "adult" cousins together for a game night on the same night. They were meeting at Grandpa and Gram's because Brinley was helping with Gram so Grandpa could attend our party. Once Grandpa got home, they moved the gathering 8 houses over to our house. When we walked in, it was Happening!! They had a spread of food and they were playing Fish Bowl (a charades game.) Tanner and Parker teasingly dismissed us ("no old people allowed"), and we happily went to our room for the night.

Also, after their game was over, Holden and Parker headed over to Tanner's for a couple of more hours to hang out and catch up. That makes my momma/aunt heart happy.

Bryn, Park, Adam, La, Holden, Tanner, Aub, Jake, Charity, and the King girls: Briana, CJ, Danielle and Ashley (2nd cousins).

Friday, December 22, 2023

Christmas Lights and Cousin Candy Bar Exchange

We switched up our cousin activities a little bit this year. We usually try to see the lights while enjoying hot chocolate on a Sunday evening. We had sickies this year, so we decided to combine it with the gift exchange later in the week. It was nice that a few more of the big cousins were home from college. (We missed you Stevie!)

Bryn, Park, Aub w/ Kaide, Braddock w/ Ella on his shoulders, Erin, Lauron, Hud and Brian

Ang, Charity and I serving up the hot chocolate. It was a mild night this year, and we didn't have to bundle up too much.

Back row: Tanner, Brinley, Erin Braddock and Ella Front row: Hud w/ Kaide and Charlotte

There is a two block neighborhood close to Chris and Ang's (Shiloh Rd), and they go all out on decorating. We park a block away and walk up one street, loop around and then down the other street. It's beautiful and fun to visit with each other as we go.

After enjoying the lights, we headed to the Vores.

Courtney (18), Holden (18), Park(21), Tan (19), Erin (19 in two days), Braddock (15), Hud (13), Aub (17 in 2 weeks), Lauron (17)

We got to meet Holden's girlfriend, Courtney, for the first time. She seemed sweet and fit right in. We have lots of teens/young adult cousins right now.

Instead of doing a true gift exchange, we tried something different. The cousins brought their favorite candy bars plus $5. We put different amounts of cash in envelopes and taped them to each candy bar.

Kaide enjoyed picking up the candy bars and tossing them aside.

I was a little nervous about playing this game because of the younger cousins. It's hard to understand why someone would take your candy. Christian was so happy with the gummies.

Then Charlotte, who is 10, stole them. He took it like a champ, but Char was pretty sad when her older brother stole the gummies right back to "teach her a lesson." Cousin gift exchange got off to a rough start! But after the four younger ones had their turn, it was all is fair in love and war. Plus, there really can't be a loser in this game. Everyone ended up with a yummy candy bar and at least a few dollars. Ella went home with bragging rights: forty dollars.

Charity taught the girls how to fold their bills into cute rings. Big cousins are the best.

I guess next year we will decide if we will go back to drawing names or doing the candy bar swap again. Mostly it's just nice to have an excuse to get all the cousins together for a couple of hours.

On the couch: Courtney, Holden, Parker (ignore the $200 he is showing...he pulled that out of his wallet!), Kaide and Tanner, Braddock, Hudson, Aub, La, Erin and Benja

Front row: Adam, Char, Ella, Lincoln, Christian, Charity, Jake, and Brinley

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Family Pictures

December 21, 2023

We survived family pictures. Barely.

It's tricky getting everyone in the same state at the same time. It's complicated working around work and school schedules. Don't even get me started on trying to coordinate outfits. The females in the family were onboard. The males gritted their teeth and grumbled-mostly quietly. It could have been worse. I could tell they were making an effort to comply.

We had these scheduled in August a few days before the wedding. Luckily, I listened to my inner implode warning and postponed them to December when Park and Brinley would be back in Odessa. They turned out pretty great, and I'm really glad we had them taken.