A Ruggiero Christmas

For Christmas Eve we started off with church with my dad, Azra, Jill, Joe, Alyse and Azra's children.  My dad's church is huge and has a really nice children's area.  Vincent was thrilled to get to go to the 4&5 year old room, although he insists he never learns anything there.  Cecilia didn't seem to mind going to see the nice ladies in the "crawler" room.  Joel was super excited to get to the 2 year old room, but the poor kid fell asleep and woke up right when I got there to pick him up.  They said the did well and at one point he got upset and just laid on the floor and fell asleep.  The service was during his nap time and it was probably in everyone's best interest that he just fell asleep.

Bryan, Joe, Jack, and Jill

After church we headed to my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Joe's house to celebrate Christmas with all my cousins, Aunts, and Uncles on my dad's side of the family.  There are 5 siblings and they all take turns hosting Christmas Eve. Vincent was off in an instant and exploring everything.  Joel liked playing in the basement.  Cecilia enjoyed climbing the stairs.  She even managed to convince a my dad and a couple different cousins to follow her up and down the stairs 100+ times.  A little of an exaggeration, but not by much.

Auntie Carol and Cecilia

We had a $5 gift exchange.  The rules were that you could only spend $5 but you could make something, re-gift something, or buy something.  Brad built an University of Illinois sign for my cousin Sammy.  It was awesome and I was a little jealous.  Brad received puppy chow that my cousin Mia made.  It was delicious!  I may have consumed at least half of it.  Cecilia was given socks that my cousin Rachel decorated.  They are really cute.  Vincent saw them on Christmas day and said "Wow!  She did a really good job making those socks.  They are so pretty!"  Vincent received home made playdoh and cookie cutters to use with the playdoh.  We have played already and had a blast!  I got a small bowl that my cousin Angela made and some delicious licorice.  I was very impressed that she could make something like that.  Joel got cute popcorn dishes and a mickey mouse sippy cup.  I was very impressed at all the wonderful gift ideas and the talent of my cousins and aunts.

Sammy and the sign Brad made

The best part of the whole evening, besides the company, was the FOOD!  My Uncle Joe (I am assuming his family helped) made homemade Ravioli.  It was delicious!  Joel, my picky eater, was eating eggplant and ravioli by the handful and loving it.  He couldn't eat it fast enough.  Cecilia was eating more food than I thought was possible.  I couldn't cut the ravioli fast enough for her!  Vincent liked it too, but he was too concerned about finishing as quickly as possible so he could play Foosball.

Joel literally shoving an entire ravioli in his mouth

He wasn't actually using his fork

Me and messy Cecilia.  Notice Joel on the foosball table?

She loved the ravioli!

My Aunt Cindy has several old family pictures hanging on her wall.  When I say old I mean pictures of my great grandparents and their parents.  She even has the ship manifest from when my grandfather and my great grandparents came to America from Italy.  She knew a lot of information about the pictures, it was really neat to hear all about these members of my family.  She offered to give us copies and one of these days I will take her up on it.

Vincent, Brad and my dad

While we were at the party Vincent convinced my sister Jill to let him have some polar bear pop (Coke).  Our kids rarely have pop and if they do it is usually something without caffeine.  Vincent was wired after his pop.  He was literally bouncing off the couch and onto my cousins and wanting to wrestle people.  He was out of control.  At one point with is pointer finger in the air he told Joe "that pop has a little bit of magic in it."  My cousin Bryan was sitting next to me and watching everything unfold.  He turned to his mom and said "is this why you never let us have pop when we were little?"  She replied yes and he shook his head like he suddenly understood.  Of course after about 15 minutes Vincent crashed big time, he wasn't so popular then!

Alyse, Joe, Joel with no pants, Jill, and half of Jack's head

We are so blessed to have a wonderful extended family!  If only I would have taken more pictures.  There is a black and white photo of a majority of the cousins floating around, but we all look possessed and I didn't really want to share that one.