Today was Laura’s big family Christmas thing at the grandparents’ farm.

Even the bathroom had Christmas decorations!

They deep fried the turkey, which I wish I had gone outside to see. The outside was lightly crispy while the inside was tender and juicy. It was delicious.

I took a picture of the meal, just for Alison who seems to like food pictures.

After the meal, we all went to the Christmas Eve Mennonite service. Us kids sat together and somehow ended up right in the front row of the church. This concerned terrified concerned me.

Katie also seemed displeased with this decision.

At the front of the church was this empty manger setup. There was a skit put on relating to it being empty and stuff but the skit went on far too long and was about as funny as that sitcom, The War at Home.

Anyway, later on in the service there was a children’s sermon where the pastor lady performed an experiment where she poured water into soapy water and bubbles gradually formed. Then she dropped a bath bomb in and concluded with “sometimes Jesus comes in you like an explosion” which made me cry from trying not to burst out laughing (as I was in the front row and all).

Also, there was a prayer later on which the speaker ended with a very dry “yes, yes yes. Amen.”

Good times.

After all that, we returned to the farm and the family did their Secret Santa gift exchange.

This was supposed to be a photo of the kids playing Hungry Hungry Hippos which would bring back fond memories of my youth. However, Katie’s cleavage decided to make an appearance, as per most of the family gatherings I’ve attended.

The kids also got an electronic Whack-a-Mole game, but the adults spent more time playing with it than they did.

Oh! and I got a box of Turtles. So really, I won out on gifts and the others were all jealous. Well, except for the kids who got Hungry Hungry Hippos and Whack-a-Mole.

In Mennonite culture, it is often the custom to have one’s parents come live with you when they get older. I’m probably getting it somewhat wrong, but it’s like, you inherit the family home and they move into the back of it while you live in the front part. So Laura’s grandparents have this house, the front of which is all nicely renovated in the past… 5-30 years (some parts are newer than others). The back of it is where her grandparents’ parents used to live and it’s all run down and cool looking. Laura’s grandfather uses it as his painting workshop.

In other news, Ryan proposed to Melissa tonight and she said yes. So they’re engaged tonight which is great for them but, you know… weird [to me].

[More pictures from the night can be found here]