Deck the Halls

Typically, when my family gets together, "Deck the Halls" takes on a whole new meaning. (That little joke would work much better if our last name was "Hall".)

This year, we had an amazingly drama-free holiday. The credit goes to, of all things, the Wii and it's equal opportunity dorkiness factor.

Christmas Eve morning was spent baking cookies for Mr. Claus. Lemon flavored cake mix cookies with red sprinkles. Every year, I get closer and closer to making real, homemade cookies. I am now in possession of a real-live, fail proof recipe, thanks to Chris E-E. Now I just have to bake them.

We spent Christmas Eve with Gran, opening a few presents and eating dinner. After we got home, the kids opened their Christmas PJ's and set out cookies and carrots. One woman I know went a step further and set out homemade Reindeer Food and a water bucket for the reindeer. I bow to her Domestic Goddessness.

Melissa drove up Christmas Eve and stayed until Saturday. We'd wrapped most of our presents the night before, but stayed up late making final touches. Such as nibbling the cookies and munching on the carrots and watching a not-so-good Fast and Furious. (Do we know how to celebrate the season, or what!)

Side note: You'll be sad to note that this year, Mandyland did use some wrapping paper in addition to re-usable flannel bags. The deal is, Mr. Dad insisted that the best part of Christmas is hearing that paper rip. Obviously he intends to train our children in the Rip It Open method of unwrapping rather than my preferred, Don't Tear It method.

Side, side note: It's also interesting to note that though he was adamant about wrapping the gifts, he didn't actually help wrap any of them.

We tracked Santa on Norad and finally, finally went to bed - only to wake up an hour later when Miss Elizabeth decided it was time for a 1:00 a.m. snack.

Joseph, bunking down with Chad, woke us up in the wee, pre-dawn hours, excited as, well a kid on Christmas morning. We got him to wait long enough for us to change Elizabeth's diaper and then off he raced into the living room to see if Santa had been there.

He had.

Presents were opened at an alarming rate. Toys were ooo'd over. Elizabeth observed the whole thing with extreme detachment. She was much more interested in chewing on her fist.

After presents were opened, admired and played with, I started the breakfast casserole. (I'll post the recipe later. Suffice to say it rocked.) Chad's family joined us mid-morning. Just in time to help us figure out how to defrost our turkey. Five days in the fridge and it still wasn't completely defrosted.

They left and about an hour or so later, Becky and Michael arrived. Just in time to save us from a vegetarian dinner.

We spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for the turkey to cook, playing Wii, and baking a pie. Really, it was fairly mellow. Jeff, Rachel and Benny arrived just as dinner was finishing up. The adults ate an amazing dinner while the boys completely ignored it in favor of running around like banshees.

After dinner, Michael drew pirate pictures for Joseph and Benny because, you know, that's what Christmas is all about. The rest of us gathered around the piano, in front of the fire and sang carols in perfect harmony. Wait! That was It's a Wonderful Life. Sorry. I got confused for a moment there. No, we listened to Christmas music while cleaning up, taking pictures and talking.

Over all, a wonderful Christmas Part 1.

For more pictures, check out Rachel's site. She put together a fun little slide show.