Christmas is here!

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."  ~Burton Hillis


We had the Hardcastle family dinner on the 23rd since Dustin had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas :(.  We have dinner together and open gifts.  Along with giving all the grandkids their regular Christmas gifts, my in-laws like to have a prize game for the grandkids.  They buy a whole bunch of random gifts, wrap them, and then give each kid two raffle tickets.  They put the matching raffle tickets in a bowl and whatever number they draw then the kid gets to pick a gift.  It is always funny to see what they buy every year and the kids can trade with each other too!

Since Dustin was working the holidays - we thought we would try something different and have the 12 days of Christmas.  The kids got to open one of their gifts each day up to Christmas then they had just a few small gifts along with their stocking on Christmas morning.  I save all year long so we have our "Christmas budget" to spend when holiday comes around.  Dustin and I put a limit on each other this year so we tried to see what we could get each other without going over our amount.  I think we did a great job!  The 12 days of Christmas was OK - we tried something new but nothing compares to the excitement of Christmas morning!

Carlin's treasures!

Caden's loot!

Someone is loved!

I am spoiled - I even got my favorite Chocolate covered Cinnamon bears!

Christmas Brunch at my parents house has been a tradition for years.  We all go over in the morning and open gifts.  With 10 grandkids there is a lot of commotion and wrapping paper everywhere! LOL!  With the exception of my kids all the younger grandchildren received pillow pets.  It was so funny to watch them open them and see which animal they received.

Then we always have more family arrive to eat brunch with us - grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins - it varies every year depending on what plans are made.  My G-pa Freeze and my aunt Sherene and her kids were able to make it this year.  We don't see them very often so it was great to be able to spend time with them.

Life is a dance, from one stage to the next . . .

Caden and Carlin signed up for social ballroom this year in school.  Carlin has really liked it, Caden not so much.  I think he thought it was going to be cooler than it turned out to be but he has been a good sport about it.  It is only a half year class so their semester performance was a Christmas/Look back through the years recital.  It was a recital with the advanced dance classes along with the social ballroom classes.  Each class was assigned a certain type of dance and that is what they performed.

Caden's class had to do the Waltz.  I am not sure what song they danced to - it didn't have words but it was very pretty!  I told him before the performance to please try to have fun and to smile :) - As you can see my request was not granted!

Carlin's class had to do the Cha Cha and they performed it to "Chain of Fools".  Before each dance, chosen students gave the audience a short speech that pertained to each dance.  Carlin was a "chosen" one and did a great job!

Family holiday progressive dinner

Due to all our busy schedules with work and family - it is hard for my family to get together all at once.  Usually it only happens for birthday parties.  My sister Tara had the wonderful idea to have a Progressive dinner during the Holidays so we could each prepare a food item, see everyone's Holiday decorations, and have some great conversation.  We told Mom and Dad they didn't have to cook but to just be there since Mom hosts Breakfast every Christmas.

WARNING - A lot of pictures ahead :) - (You would think after a year of having my camera I could figure out how to take a great picture but I can't figure out why I keep getting some pictures with weird colors)

We started at my brother Matt's house.  He and my SIL Heather were assigned an appetizer.  We had Hot Artichoke dip and chips along with cheese and crackers.  Yummy!!!

The next stop was my sister Tara's house.  We had a very good Caesar Salad and parmesan breadsticks!

We then went to my sister Melanie's house!  She made a good Potato Soup!  Her husband has been working in AZ for almost two months.  We wished Justin could have been there!

Last stop was my house for dessert!  I made TO DIE FOR mini lemon cheesecake bars and a delicious slush/punch.  The chocolate cookie recipe I found was OK - the kids seemed to like them!  We also had a visit from SANTA!!! (aka my neighbor and friend Alan Ormsby - who did a fabulous job!)  Santa read "The Night Before Christmas" and I have never seen all the kids sooo quiet at one time!  Then each child got to sit on Santa's lap to tell him what said gift they would like and to receive a present! 

We had a fun time we had!  This is a great thing to do for a holiday family tradition!