Despain Family Christmas Party!

Every year, just before Christmas, my mothers side of the family all get together at this big day care center in Burley to have a party. It is so much fun to sit around a talk with family that you don't see all the time. There is great food, conversation, a gift exchange, and a few rounds of lightning (basketball).


We all gather and eat until everyone is stuffed. Then we do the children's gift exchange. This is for all the kids who are under the age of 12. They each have the name of another child in the family and get to buy that person a gift. I am still not sure who had Ryker, but I hope they didn't feel bad because they bought him the cutest stuffed horsey. Although it was darling, Ryker has developed a fear of horses. I tried to convice him it was a dog and he gave me the funniest look, but still didn't want anything to do with it.


Then all the kids go and play while the adults have our white elephant/gag gift exchange. We used to get some really crazy gifts but people have started mixing in a few nice ones. It is always so funny to see some of the things people come up with. The best was when we gave Jason's old Iphone away (it was destroyed after being in the pool in J's pocket for 2 hours.) all of the younger cousins started fighting over it. They were bound and determinded that they were going to be able to fix it.


After the gift exchange is over we clear all the tables and chairs and play lightning. It came down to Jason and Derek this year. Derek won on a lucky shot!


After the party is over some of us go to Derk and Amy's house to play games. That is usually our favorite part of the day, because we just can't stop laughing. We play catch phrase and my mom always gives the worst clues. Like she gave the clue "alcoholic beverage" and that was it. I started naming all the beverages I could think of and then of course I got teased for knowing so many. Another highlight of the night was when my grandma gave her clue for nightmare. She said, "It's like when you go to sleep and wake up like AHHHHHH!" She actually closed her eyes and then started screaming. We were all laughing so hard the other team couldn't even start giving clues.

We play games until everyone is so tired we can't stay awake much longer. That ends the night of the Despain Family Christmas Party! Can't wait for next year. Here are a few pictures of the event.