Christmas Day

Christmas day began for us at 7:30 AM with flurry of unwrapping presents and eating way too many goodies.  It was a wonderful, stress-free day spent with family and friends.  Heck, I even managed to squeeze in a nap!

The day after Christmas was not so relaxing, however.  I spent the day trying to clear out the boys’ closets to make room to put the new toys.  Whew!  Getting organized is hard, rewarding work.  I feel so accomplished now that everything has a home.

Now my thoughts are turning to cleaning…  How many days do you think I can put this off?  The carpet is littered with bits of wrapping paper, cellophane scraps and cookie crumbs.  I guess I can’t let it go too long since it’s already driving me insane but all I really want to do is curl up in bed with a book.

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Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a pretty busy day as I imagine it is for most people.  I spent the morning battling the crowds at Walmart and the grocery store for some last minute Christmas day supplies.  I came home and tossed a salad together for dinner that evening with Yaya, whipped up a quick casserole for the morning then set out to make sugar cookies with the cousins.  Making and decorating sugar cookies is an annual tradition that slipped until Christmas Eve this year.  Normally we try to make them a week or so before Christmas but ran out of time.

Of course, the boys loved creating crazy confections with the red, green and white icing.  It was like they were competing to see who could pile the most sprinkles on their cookies.  I hope it’s one of those childhood memories they will always remember.

Santa had quite a selection of lovely cookies to choose from on Christmas morning!  The highlight for me was not having to clean ground sugar cookies and sprinkles out of my carpet.  Big Red graciously took the hit this year 🙂

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My mom invited us over to have baked ziti at her house for Christmas Eve dinner.  The boys both passed out on the 5-minute car ride over to Yaya’s house.  They woke back up after J carried them inside.  I think the excitement of the holidays had caught up with them.  We had a nice time together opening a few presents, sipping some good wine and watching Christmas specials on television. After dinner we piled into our car and took a spin around town looking a Christmas lights.

We dropped my mom back off at her house then headed home to give the boys baths and make Santa preparations.  The boys each received a packet of reindeer food from their teachers.

As soon as they donned their new sock monkey jammies we all raced outside to spread the oatmeal/birdseed/glitter mix around the yard and driveway.

The last task of the night was preparing the snacks for Santa and his reindeer.  The boys were excited to  prepare the carrots, cookies and milk!

Once all the snacks were laid out on the table J and I ushered the kiddos off to bed.  Our work as Santa’s helpers had not even begun and it was well past 10 PM!

Christmas Eve Eve Dinner Party

Last night was our annual dinner and gift exchange with our good friends.  Notably absent in the photo above is Steph.  Although invited she chose not to attend.  I’m not going to get into all of the issues surrounding her decision but I will say that it’s probably for the best that she was not there.  Things have not been good between her and the rest of us for quite some time.  I guess divorce does that- tears apart families, ruins friendships, etc.  It’s really a shame.  But I will say that in true the Christmas spirit, we managed to have a wonderful evening full of amazing food and laughs in spite of the drama that’s been going on.  Everyone came over about 6 PM and before we knew it half of the kids were passed out and it was past 11 PM!!!  That’s a good night 🙂

I chose to host the party at our house this year instead of trying to do another progressive dinner party.  It was easier just to keep everything in one place.  The kids enjoyed an assortment of Frostie sodas, homemade veggie macaroni and cheese with green bean casserole and crescent rolls.  For appetizers we had Italian dry salami slices, summer sausage, smoked Gouda cheese, Colby Jack cheese, an assortment of crackers, cream cheese topped with chipotle peach jam, Belgian dark chocolate tea cups filled with raspberry Chocovine, and Big Red’s colossal shrimp cocktail.  My friend, B, brought a turkey breast, smashed potatoes and stuffing that perfectly complimented all of the sides I prepared.  For dessert there was chocolate cake, three kinds of fudge, cookies and coconut custard tarts.

Dude!  I think I gained 10 lbs.

I bought the children party crackers to open after dinner.  We’d never tried them before and thought they added a little something fun to the evening.  Most of the toys inside were cheap and got lost easily but were fun nonetheless. Especially the colorful paper crowns.

Everyone exchanged presents before dessert.  My living room looked like a tornado touched down.  There was paper, bows, box remnants, etc. everywhere!  The kids squeals of delight were priceless.

Like I said, the Christmas spirit filled our home last night.  Our hearts and bellies were full.  We didn’t want to break the spell of the night by ending the festivities.  It’s one of those special times that we will always remember.