a merry merry christmas!

So I've been a very busy little bee this past week preparing for Christmas and such. Now that I finally got a good night sleep last night, I'm prepared to share our Christmas with you all!

Let's see....

On Wednesday, my sister came over and we did a little baking. Well, if we're being completely honest, I did the baking, she decorated a gingerbread house! Somehow, it seems that every time we plan something such as getting together to bake or what not, it never turns out the way we planned and we end up running out of time. It was no different that day but the time we had together was fun!

On my baking list, I planned to make four different kinds of cookies. The first one I made was an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie. I was first introduced to this recipe by my sister.in.law the summer after Evan was born. Boy are these good!

Like a goof, I somehow only got a shot of the cookie dough....but you can tell they'll be good...right? haha!


The next cookie on my list was a Chocolate Cookie Bar. My mother.in.law gave me this recipe before Ben and I were married and I kept it in my sock drawer until I finally had a recipe book to keep it in...also given to me by my mother.in.law!

These are absolutely one of my favorites during Christmas time. I always look forward to them! Yum-O!


The third cookie I made was a Chocolate Chip Pudding cookie. My mother.in.law also gave me this recipe. She's queen bee when it comes to yummy cookie recipes!



And the last cookie was a plain sugar cookie all decorated up! I had such a fun time decorating them even though it took me into the wee hours of the morning!


As I mentioned above, my sister put together a gingerbread house that we purchased at the grocery store. She did a great job! Here she is putting it all together.





And here is one side all finished...


The next day on Christmas Eve, I packaged all but the sugar cookies up and took them to work to give to my fellow coworkers. I was a little bummed when not many where there. While I was glad they didn't have to work on Christmas Eve, I wanted to give the goodies to them in person. Oh and I brought Evan and my hubby along to show off! haha! I did however receive a message on Facebook from a coworker thanking me for the cookies so I know they were received!

Then every year on Christmas Eve we get together with my in.laws for dinner and games. We usually always go to my mother.in.laws house but we changed that last year since we now have Evan and it would be much easier if we were at home when it's his bed time.

Everyone arrived around 4pm for a roast dinner and desserts. I set the dining room table up and while I still have yet to purchase Christmas china, I had to go with my everyday dinner plates and glasses. All in all, I think it turned out nice and no one really noticed the cherry dinner plates at Christmas time!



Earlier that day, I stopped at the grocery store for a few things and I passed the bakery. When I did, I spotted something that I just couldn't resist....Christmas cupcakes! And while I'd love to take credit for them, I'll be honest and admit it was the bakery lady at Lucky!



We had a lovely dinner and after wards, we got together and played The Beatles Rockband. Well, my hubby, his sister and Evan did anyway! Before we started, my brother.in.law, Mark, played a bit with Evan pretending to interview him with the mic. We all got a good chuckle out of watching him put the mic to his mouth and mumble baby babble into it! It was so darn cute! We do have a video of it and as soon as I find out how to transfer it to my computer, I'll try and load it here for you to see!

Here is Auntie Kathleen signing away while Evan holds the mic for her!


And here he is giving a go at it!


Around 10pm everyone headed home and Ben and I got started on our gift wrapping. With all the busyness of the week, I never got around to doing it! Oops!

My mother.in.law purchased Evan a white table and chair set from IKEA and Ben spent the night putting it together so we would have it up for Evan in the morning. I also thought it would be cute to put his presents on top of the table to wow him even more!



On Christmas morning, I woke up to a horrible headache I chalked up to being sleep deprived. Because of that I didn't get out of bed until after 9am. I was thankful that Evan was very patient and let me do this. Finally at around 9:30 we brought Evan out into the family room and after chasing him down a bit we got his attention focused on the tree and what was just in front of it. He ran straight towards it! This year, I decided to take a home video of the action and therefore we didn't get any actual photos of the gift opening event. Boo...I know. I'd try and load the video here but it's over 25 minutes long! haha!

Like many families this year, the finances are a bit tight, so Ben and I agreed not to purchase any gifts for each other. But he didn't hold up his end of the bargain and surprised me with a wonderful gift! He, along with everyone else in the family, purchased me a brand new professional flash for my camera! I was so excited! I played around with it for most of the day and had a blast! My hubby is good like that!

After all the gift opening at our house, we headed to my mother.in.laws for Christmas brunch in which I made french toast and a special recipe just for us girls since the boys are very picky eaters. I made a cream cheese and orange marmalade stuffed french toast. It was awesome let.me.tell.you.



If anyone wants the recipe, let me know, it's sooooo good!

Here's a picture of the beautiful table set up by my mother.in.law. She always has such pretty tablescpaes!


You'll notice at the top of the above picture two Bibles. One on the table and one being held by my sister.in.law. Every year at Christmas, my husband and his family would sit around the breakfast table and read from Luke 2. At a very young age, my husband and his sister had this completely memorized. Since I came into the picture almost 13 years ago, I've taken on the tradition and now want to pass it on to Evan. Knowing how little attention span toddlers posses, we shortened it a bit to only verses 13 and 14. It was cute watching his face as we all read it aloud together. I wonder what he was thinking??? So cute!

This is Evan "showing us his teeth". This is something new he's started over the past couple weeks. It's nice because if we just say "Show us your teeth" he'll do this and we can snap a photo and it's like he's smiling! Voila!



After brunch, we gathered together in the living room and opened gifts. This is me sniffing the yummy yummy smelling body wash my mother.in.law gave me. It's from Philosophy and it smells of chocolate fudge! Talk about yummy!



As I've mentioned before, my mother.in.law is a fabulous sewer and quilter. She made a gorgeous quilt for our king sized bed and gave it to us two years ago at Christmas. This year, she made one for my sister.in.law and her husband. It turned out so pretty!



And finally it was off to my parents house for gift opening and visiting! Grandpa is an avid golfer and insists on getting Evan started asap so he gave him a play golf set for Christmas! Here they are learning together!





And that's it! Phew! I know it was a long post but a lot as happened these past few days!

Christmas is getting so much more exciting with Evan in our lives. I can't wait to teach him all about Jesus this coming year! Next Christmas will mean so much more when he understands the true meaning!

Oh and I thought I'd just mention that he FINALLY said 'ma ma' today! I was beginning to think he never would! Yay!

Merry (belated) Christmas all!