58 people and no one signs McGowan

 

Another Christmas in the books and again I am thankful for the family I married.  I have loved every McGowan Christmas since The Hubs and I started dating.  When I attended my first McGowan Christmas about 15 years ago, there were about 20 people at Grandma and Grandpa Greats house.  I can remember thinking “Wow, all of their Aunts and Uncles come to Christmas.”  It just seemed unusual to me.  Why don’t they each have their own Christmas.  After a few years, before Andy and I were married, I don’t remember the exact words Grandpa Great used, but he basically said “We do Christmas on Christmas Eve, so if your family has plans for that night, they will need to change them.”  We have zero traditions in my family, so I had no problem with this.  I couldn’t imagine having to choose.  As the years went on I realized how important it was to Grandma and Grandpa to see all of their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids at Christmas. (They would have been in awe this year)  It was always amazing to see Grandma and Grandpa just sit in their chairs and smile while all their family opened their gifts.  Grandpa may have hated the shopping part, but he loved seeing how happy all the grandkids were with their gifts!  They were the only thing missing from this year.

 

This is the Carolers…Yes they actually go around the neighborhood dressed like this and attempt to sing carols.  If nothing else, they bring A LOT of holiday cheer!

It was amazing this year!  We had everyone there, except for Mike and Linda. Grandma Mikey was sent home from the hospital but wasn’t able tp make it to Spencer.  But we were happy to have him home!

And there were some great White Elephant gifts too!  There was a baby boom in the family this year too.  It gave a few of us “baby fever”, but we got our snuggles and sent them home!

Grandma and Grandpa and their 4 girls sure have grown.  After we got home, I sat down and counted how much we had really grown.  Any guesses at how many people were there….56!  (give or take a few)WOW huh? 56 people and not a single one of us has the last name McGowan. But that’s what we call ourselves, even those of us who have married into the family.  It’s an awesome thing Don and Mary McGowan made!  I am already counting down to next year!

I love this family!

Busy, busy, busy…

What have we been busy with…

Girl had a band concert.

Boy practiced…

and practiced…

and practiced some more…

and they even bowled in a couple tournaments

Bowling is what we do. It consumes our lives, but in a good way. There is a community of people that I can’t imagine our lives without. Everywhere we have moved, the bowling center in each city always becomes home.

Any town that we moved to, we could walk into a center with our equipment, and always be able to join a team. We’ve met great people and sometimes some questionable people, but always had fun! That’s why we keep coming back I guess, no matter how bad we bowl.

The kids are just as involved as we are. Boy is counting down until he can join the youth state and local boards. He practices every chance he gets. and he’s amazing at it. But I may be a little biased. It’s amazing to see him in the same tournaments with high school and college bowlers. I think he just clicks with them. We are so blessed to have such great people take care of our youth bowlers.

Girl enjoys bowling, but just doesn’t’ have the drive and desire to raise her average like Boy does. She has amazing natural talent though. If only we can find that special thing that sparks her. In time she’ll find it. Its smoldering in there…I know it.

we’re off…probably heading to the bowling center

Makala

Pooch…

Montana Gold on his favorite trail.

Everybody's doing it...right?

Well, I really can't say for sure if "everyone" is doing it...but I can say that I have thought about doing it for a LONG time. There are so many blogs that I follow (admittedly some more so than I check my Facebook) Grr! I often ask myself why...What is it about these people that I have never met, know absolutely nothing about, but still, every time I sit down at my computer I must check on them. Have they gone on vacation, are their kids sick, are they having the same "family issues" that may be going on at my house, do they have a new recipe? I find it a little strange. In my defense...I do also follow blogs of people I have met in person :)

If nothing else I decided "If you can't beat 'um, join 'um". So here I write...sorry blog. I'm not really sure the direction this blog will take. I'm not sure if this is nothing more than a phase. I picked A Snap Judgment with the intent of this being about my journey as a photographer, but I'm sure you might find a recipe or 2 or bowing accomplishments pop up too. Our family is so busy...I don't even know if I will have time to blog. Once a week is my goal. Just like going to the trail with this lovely poochy. It's just to dang cold now.

Photography is taking my time today. A wonderful family that we know through bowling just adopted 3 young brothers. They are celebrating the adoption with a party at where else? The bowling center!! This family is there almost as often as we are. I offered to take photos during the party and then at some point, when they have time...(this is a woman who is now a mother of 10, like she's got time) I would do family photos too. It's something to get my feet wet in the photography field.