Christmas with the Hulets (aka "Tradition...who cares?")

I wanted to document our time in Pennsylvania this past Christmas.  Our families don't live close to each other (almost at opposite coasts), so we take turns between the Beazers and Hulets every year for Christmas.  This year was the year of the Hulets!  All of us came home this year (except for my li'l brudder, who is serving a mission in Birmingham, England), and with our spouses and kids there were 15 of us in one house!  Our house isn't that big, so it was quite a feat :)  And there's nothing like driving 14 hours to get there!  The drive actually wasn't too bad.  Buddy drove the whole way, and I alternated between entertaining Chase and entertaining Buddy.  It's hard work, believe me :)  Chase was awesome the whole trip, though I felt bad that he had to be strapped in the whole time we were driving.  We did the drive all in one day, but we stopped for every meal so that we wouldn't all go crazy in the car.  We were the first ones to get home, so it was nice to settle in while things were still a bit quiet.  It wasn't quiet for long, but I love that about my family :)  We spent Christmas vacation playing games (both the board and the wii variety), going skeet shooting, playing volleyball, soccer/chair soccer, eating delicious food, singing/playing the piano, doing puzzles (or was it just a puzzle?), watching movies, taking our hairy little sister on walks, playing with babies/kids,

 skyping with our little brother who's on his mission (so fun!  Usually they are just supposed to call on the phone, but his mission president allowed skype calls in one area at the bishop's house),

and just hanging out together.  It's been a joke in our family for the past few years that we don't keep any traditions anymore, and it's kind of true.  But there are a few traditions we DID keep:  skeet shooting,

Santa coming to visit on Christmas Eve,

 pjs to open Christmas Eve (only for the grandkids this time), and watching Muppet Christmas Carol (best Christmas carol movie, ever!).  It's fun to have traditions, but it's also fun to try new things!  Like eating dinner hosted by an Amish Family at their house (they do it to earn some extra money, and their food is pretty delicious!  mmmm...),

and we tried a new way of exchanging gifts this year.  A lot of us were either poor or were spending a lot of money just to get to PA for Christmas (or both), so we decided to draw names and wrap random objects from around the house  for each other.  Kind of like white elephant (or I've heard some people down here call it "Dirty Santa"), but this idea stems from something we tease our mom for doing:  one Christmas she was giving my two older sisters professional teeth whitening as a present, and she felt that since their expensive present couldn't be wrapped, they would feel bad that it seemed like the other kids had more presents to open.  So she wrapped things that already belonged to them so they could "have something to open."  We love you, mom!  It was pretty funny when they opened their presents and were like "umm...mom, this is the gift my best friend bought me while she was on a trip." :) The end result of our Hulet gift exchange 2010 was pretty funny, and I have to say that my oldest brother wins the prize for funniest present.  He drew Buddy's name, and Buddy opened his gift to find an empty glass jar that he promptly opened:

Then Buddy showed us all what was written on the top of the jar:

I can't believe he smelled it!  And of course my mom didn't actually toot in the jar, but my brother did!  Gross, right?  But funny :)  I don't know why Buddy and I both got bathroom-related presents, but my little sister wrapped up this huge body pillow that we have over the years lovingly called "cuddle poop" or "poop log" (when my mom bought it she insisted it was a "cuddle log").  And what goes best with the biggest log ever?  A plunger, of course!  Sorry the picture has a weird smudge on it.

 This is my bro-in-law with his "Hulet exchange 2010" present.  And this is my sis-in-law with her REAL ipod docking speakers.  Both awesome presents :)

We had such a fun time at home with my family, and we can't wait for Beazer Christmas 2011 coming up this year!

Oh, and to wrap up this post, here's a picture I found on my camera as I was uploading photos.  Obviously taken by herself :)  That's what you get for pranking my camera, Droolie!  Bam!