... and to All a good night!

McHugh Family Christmas!

Wow! Have 2 days passed already? We just finished celebrating Christmas with the McHugh family. It was wonderful to have everyone in attendance! There were travelers from as far away as Arizona and Maryland at this year's gathering, despite the wicked weather that hit the Midwest yesterday.

The weather was bad for most people, but brought us a nice surprise! Cousin Mollie was traveling from Minneapolis back home to Mankato on Sunday when she made the wise decision to pull off the highway and spend the night with us. The dozens of cars in the ditch, slow traffic, and frequent ambulance sightings persuaded her to call us from the road and offer her help in preparing for the Christmas Eve celebration. In addition to just plain adding enjoyment to our Saturday night, she was a big help. I'm quite certain no one was able to find a dog hair or piece of anything on the floor after Mollie was done vacuuming! :)

Did Luke teach Mollie the "stress face"or is this a natural reaction to being at our house for 2 days?

The McHugh's began arriving around 1:00 pm and the house was soon full of talking, laughing, and (of course) eating! Everyone brought such delicious food... appetizers, wild rice, and desserts, desserts, and more desserts! There are many reasons why I married Dan, but the desserts made by his aunts and cousins definitely sealed the deal for me! (Mark my words... in about 9 hours I'll be eating Aunt Sara's apple pie for breakfast while Dan devours the container of pumpkin torte! Yum yum!)

Having grown up with small family gatherings, I'm always amazed (and a little overwhelmed) at the amount of activity a McHugh gathering produces. I love that such a large family is still able to hold onto Christmas traditions that were established so long ago. While we miss those who are no longer with us, there is a strong sense that they remain an important part of the celebration.

Luke enjoyed the day. It was quite a shock for him to lay down for his nap in a quiet house and wake up in the midst of a food & family circus. After a couple hours, he was more willing to stray into the crowd and perform for the adoring audience. Once he realize that everyone would clap for him, he really "hammed" it up and shared some of his best tricks.

The night came to a close and after everyone had left we sat wondering where the day had gone. We think part of the time was lost while we were in a food coma, but the rest of the time seemed to fly by too. Thanks to everyone who drove to Savage to celebrate with us! We are thankful to be a part of such a great family.

With Grandpa watching Luke so closely, it's hard to imagine how Luke face gets so dirty! Luke is obviously a second generation "pumpkin torte" lover!

Ryan shared a few tackling lessons with Luke!

"Dear Santa,"