Christmas!

Christmas morning began with a cup of coffee in my Christmas mug with matching spoon. 

Chris watched his traditional Christmas morning movie: A Christmas Story

Then it was time for presents!

(Be aware that these photos are pre-shower. I mean, who can postpone present opening for a shower?)

Here are some highlights:

A dress,  chili pepper lights and chili spices from my dad:

From Kathy, a beautiful purse, which I'm using right now:

Super cute measuring cups from Laura:

I gave Chris a mug with several pictures of Grace on it:

And then for his big gift

A new razor! Ahhh

Chris gave me a rain jacket, which I truly needed on our vacation, a polarized lens for my camera, again great for our vacation, and socks.

Don't laugh. This girl begs for socks every year. I truly do! I can't get enough cute socks. However, they must be Gold-Toe socks. I'm probably the only person excited to receive socks, I know!

Porter didn't necessarily get a gift this Christmas, but a living room full of wrapping paper, tape and trash makes for a happy cat.

Then it was time to give Grace her yearly gift. Her birthday is actually Christmas Eve, and I always buy her a soft animal toy with a squeaker in it. Usually she tears into it in 5 seconds, rips out the squeaker and carries around the un-stuffed animal the rest of the year. 

It was year of the bunny this year: 

Surprisingly,  she seemed to love it, and it has become more of her baby doll than a rough, hunting toy. See, she's kissing it. 

Porter soon grew tired of the activities and found something to lay on. 

After we ate, it was time to pack and head on our family vacation.

What's better than Christmas? 

Having a week-long vacation to recover from Christmas!

Christmas Breakfast

Hey, what ya got there?

Some kind of roll or log?

Well, I used these things:

Rolled it up as seen before and cut them the opposite way.

Bake them off at 350 degrees for 11-15 minutes.

These are my family's Christmas morning sausage roll-ups.

My mom always made them for me on Christmas morning, and I've continued on the tradition.

They are so yummy, but with the grease and crescent roll, it's a Christmas morning only splurge for us. 

So you bake off the sausage, mix it in a bowl with cream cheese, dill weed and dry mustard.

Spread the cream cheese mixture on a package of crescent rolls, unrolled flat on a cookie sheet. 

Roll the dough and cream cheese mixture into a long roll shape, wrap in wax paper and then foil, and place in the **freezer**.

Christmas morning, take out the log before you open presents. Allow it to defrost, slice into rounds and bake. 

Totally delicious!!!

Merry Christmas!

Let's Play

Our creative friends got together for a dirty santa potluck party. Dirty Santa means as you open gifts, you can steal someone's gift they've already opened or open a new one. The theme of all the gifts had to be "play." 

 

We knew it was going to be a good night early on because Chris and Darrin matched! They must have called each other beforehand to coordinate. 

Everyone brought a dish, and it was a delicious meal.

Hey Jenny and Laura!

Hey Laura and Kendra!

After we ate, the gifts were opened. Darrin drew number 1, and so he got to go first. I think he was happy.

Let's pause to look at this next photo. In my opinion, Jenny, me and Laura are some cute ladies. How in the world, did each of us make such strange faces at one time, and have it captured on camera? Seriously. This may never happen again. It's cracking me up. 

Hey Brittany and Clay!

Antonio, Meghan, Stephanie and Megan made for one good-looking corner of the room. 

Chris' gift was awesome, and apparently shocking to him.

Kendra loved her gift card. 

I'm glad we're all friends so we can get together and play all the games people got. 

Megan got some lottery tickets. Wonder if she won any loot? 

Here I am opening my chosen gift. 

"Don't you take my gift cards, Allison." 

I think Jenny opened almost all of the presents that night. Hers kept getting stolen by other people. 

The girls!

The group shot, taken by Chris. 

The group shot taken with a tabletop tripod. Not terrible. Next time guys, we'll put the tripod on the actual dining room table and stand in front of the big window. Duh. 

And then Matt began Swan Lake. 

Or just mayhem in general.

They finally got it together. Some good-looking men. 

Say goodnight Megan and Kendra!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

Take some time out to play with the ones you love.

Family Christmas

Just wanted to share these pretty photos from our Christmas with my family. Unfortunately, Chris took all the photos this time so he's not in them. 

It's good to have family!