Home for the holidays

I am participating in the Blogging From A-Z Challenge. Each day in April (except the last 4 Sundays), I will post topic themes that begin with the letters of the alphabet, from A-Z. Today's letter is G.

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As I mentioned in a previous post, my mother-in-law sort of passed the torch to me for the holiday gatherings. We typically have Christmas dinner at our house, but this year we hosted Easter in our home, too.  (After last year's Thanksgiving madness, Mom-in-law said she was done hosting all holidays.  If she sticks to that, we'll be doing Thanksgiving, as well.)

Every time I host a big function, whether it be a birthday party or a holiday gathering, I'm this crazy ball of nerves right at the end.  The mad dash to get everything done right & on time both stresses me out & invigorates me.  You'd think I'd dislike that pressure, but I love it.  No, not everything turns out as planned, but whatever improvisation or flat-out change I have to make works out just fine.  Though I'm unbelievably exhausted when it's all over, I'm always anxious for the next time I get to do it again. 

It helps that I love Justin's family & am so glad to be a part of the fold.  I take the dysfunction with the closeness b/c it's a package deal & the dysfunction part isn't that bad.  It's mostly comical and always interesting. :)  But I digress.  

This year, I was hostess of Easter. Everyone came to our home for food & egg hunting. There was a little family rock band (my Mom-in-law even played drums!), lots of chatting, and the kids ended the day w/ a crazy water fight in the front yard. Rather than re-hashing all the details, here are a few picture highlights.  Enjoy!!

My kiddo & oldest nephew hunting eggs

Deviled chicks

Flower-shaped carrots (only half are fancy; I got tired of cutting!)

Peep S'mores or "smeeps" as the kids called them

My niece soaking wet from the kids' water fight