Christmas with family

Christmas days...traditionally days of family gatherings for us.

Christmas Eve we always spend with my in-laws. Last year we experimented hosting it at my brother-in-laws at at our place, but my mother-in-law insists on hosting it at her home. So we drove to the west of Belgium again. Fortunately, it was a freezing cold night but a dry one because we had not reserved a hotel or B&B either like we've done a couple of years ago.  I did stress a bit about a nightly drive home...I am really not a hero for late evening drives anymore, but it went alright and I didn't get hit by fatigue as much without the alcohol consumption.. 

 I was grateful for the rare gathering of uncles/aunts and cousins for my children.  Jan's brother had made up the most ridiculous rebuses for a game that made us laugh because they were so rotten.  The children were happy to receive some gifts and we enjoyed a nice meal with food overload . 

The youngsters were lost in a Roblox game and the older were experimenting with AI and filters. 

It was good, it was all relax and with giggles. 

On Christmas Day we hosted the Christmas lunch with my family for the 2nd year in a row.  We truly don't mind and it suits everybody.  It's nice not to need to drive or go anywhere and we had to rush in a quick Christmas cleaning that morning but the living room transformation was nice. 

Jan did a good job selecting a good caterer and served their delicious food well and we had a good time on this sunny cold Christmas Day together. 
More food, more drinks, more gifts for the youngsters...

Since my nephew and his girlfriend still had other family obligations and also study work to do and my mom preferred to return home with daylight, we said goodbye at a very decent hour and then we joined Rodin for some rest.  Rodin was in fact very much in love with his new cardboard box.