Christmas

We started out our Christmas celebrations the Thursday before Christmas with a sing-a-long at the Fabiano's house. There were some pictures taken of the six sisters that were here for Christmas, but I don't have any of them! But we had a nice time singing Christmas carols at the tops of our voices, and eating some delicious goodies. It was also the first chance we had to see Adrienne since she'd flown in the evening before. 

On Friday evening we went to the Gunnell's house for dinner and some Christmas activities for the kids. Dinner was delicious, of course. The kids then got to decorate their own gingerbread houses.

 

After gingerbread houses we did a gift exchange for the kiddos, and I think everyone got some fun stuff. Adam ended up with silly putty, Will had a noisemaker toy, and Jenna got a travel size Battleship. I was pretty excited about that one! :)

Saturday morning was very busy with cleaning the house and getting the food ready for the progressive dinner for Christmas Eve! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time. We had a common food theme again this year (last year it was citrus) and it was BACON! Yum! We started out at Fabiano's with some delicious bacon-y appetizers.

After that we proceeded to the Blau's where we combined the second course and main dish. We were supposed to do main dish at the Turley's, but they had a sick one at home that was being quarantined. The lettuce bacon cups, funeral potatoes, and bacon wrapped meatloaf was delicious and very filling.

And last but not least we came to our house for dessert. How do you incorporate bacon into dessert, you might ask? Well, as it turns out there are countless recipes out there for desserts with bacon. However, I wasn't feeling particularly creative in the weeks leading up to the dinner, so the only bacon dessert we had was good old chocolate covered bacon. I think everyone was a little skeptical in the trying of the chocolatey bacon, but I think the consensus on it was "it's not so bad". We also had two kinds of chocolate covered popcorn and three kinds of chocolate covered pretzels.

Right before we had dessert I had the fun opportunity to share the news that Joel and I are having another baby! The reaction from my sisters was great, and I think I surprised them all with the news. My due date is July 8th, and we are so excited about it!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun, as always! We were up a little before 6 and digging through stockings and opening presents. We all got a lot of fun things. Unfortunately our camera was out of battery, so the few pictures I got were on Joel's phone. 

I love how sleepy-eyed everyone looks in Christmas morning shots. :)

Adam got his own sleeping bag, so now each child has their own.

Adrienne had us for Christmas this year, and she surprised us all by getting Joel a set of golf clubs! She was even super sneaky and with some help she hid them in our garage the night before during the progressive dinner. I think his smile says it all!!

After we finished opening presents we had time to play with things for an hour or two, and then we got cleaned up for church. Joel thought the boys were looking particularly handsome (and I must agree) so he snapped this picture of them in front of the tree. I think he used the new camera that I got him for Christmas!

After church we got back in our jammies and played some more. Will got some Kinex, and everyone had a fun time making things out of them. We also got to Skype with both Grandma R and Grandma K!

In the later afternoon we headed over to Laura's house to hang out, eat dinner, play games, and generally enjoy ourselves.

Since Christmas there has been a lot of building Kinex, watching "24" (for Joel and I), and playing Uno Attack, battleship, and the game Authors which Joel's Mom gave us. Joel played the game as a child so it's extra special. We're happy that our kids have taken to it so well. Thanks again, Brenda! Jenna's also been drawing us lots of pictures on her new easel, and all the kids have enjoyed Will's new remote control truck.

The Christmas vacation has been so much fun, and it's been so great to have Joel home so much. He had an orientation for his third rotation today, and he will start the actual rotation tomorrow. The kids head back to school on Thursday, so it will be back to the routine. It's sad that the Christmas season is over, but it will be nice to get things back on a schedule. :)

Small p.s. Our New Year's Eve was wild and crazy here at home, watching "24" and drinking some sparkling cider. It was absolutely perfect! Welcome, 2012!