We had a wonderful Christmas with our family and friends this year. So much quality time spent with our loved ones, appreciating that we get to be together and celebrate with good food and great conversation. After a whirlwind year, this is just the recharge that I’ve needed.
I arrived with a basket full of gifts and goodies. I found these cute silver initial ornaments last minute, and added them to the kraft paper wrapped gifts. They sparkled under the lights from the Christmas tree.
Every time I’ve looked at those Elf on the Shelf dolls, they have reminded me of something but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then I spotted this little guy on my parents’ tree this year. It turns out that we’ve had this little guy all along! He is the original little elf from the 1950s.
Christmas Eve
Our family always does our big family dinner on Christmas Eve. We look forward to having the whole family over to celebrate with a big meal.
This year we were planning on doing a smaller turkey and a duck, but then we got a great deal on this 25 lb bird. With a family of 17, we were still able to get plenty of leftovers for the week. Can’t complain about that!
My great aunt and mother keep reminding me that I do not have the family’s stuffing recipe on the blog. Mainly because I don’t eat it! But now the pressure is on and I will have to take some photos and get it up. Even though I am not a big stuffing person, I do have to admit that theirs is really good. I even had a little scoop this year.
My contribution to the dessert table was this cookie platter. Pretzel Bark and White Christmas Crunch, along with my mom’s gingerbread, and some holiday candies.
My sister made this incredible gingerbread house. The details were amazing – right down to the After Eight mint roof. We’re all too nervous to take it apart!
Christmas Day
We woke up to a lovely Christmas morning. The river had frozen over (still too thin to walk on!) and everything was covered in a soft layer of snow.
We all started to unwrap our gifts and dig through our stockings. Whiskey stayed high above all of the action. I swear that sometimes he is a cat.
Shadow buried herself under all the wrapping paper – she just wanted to be a part of it all.
Breakfast was deviled eggs, Morton Family Strata from The Family Stone, bacon, toast and some leftover goodies.
The rest of our day was spent relaxing with the family, cleaning up from the big dinner the night before, and playing quite a few rounds of Euchre.
The best part about having our big dinner the night before, is that Christmas Day is all about relaxing and being together.
Boxing Day
Boxing Day included some more relaxing with the family, online Boxing Day shopping (not a fan of braving the crowds that day!) and packing up all my lovely gifts to take home. With a full carload, Whiskey and I headed back home to see Garrett, who unfortunately had to work through the holidays.
Last night we went out to visit friends for some holiday cheer and an impromptu game night. Someone brought a new game – The Logo Game – which made me realize that I know way too much about corporations and company jingles.
We brought Cards Against Humanity, which is a game I gave Garrett for Christmas. If you’ve ever played this game, you’ll know how hilarious the answers are. It is like Apples to Apples but very politically incorrect.
Now we’re heading out for a Post-Christmas workout to burn off some of these sweets and then we’re going to go see a movie using some tickets that Garrett’s Nana gave us. What a great gift for two movie lovers like us.
Hope that you enjoy the rest of the holidays this week. I can hardly believe that it is Thursday already! The time is flying by!
