This is the second year in a row that we have been lucky enough to have Christmas Eve dinner at our house! Yippee! I just love having people over....especially when it means hosting a party! We only had 10 people this year, but it was perfect. We were surrounded by people that we love and truly enjoyed their company. The night was spent laughing, talking trash, a few cocktails and a "nice" white elephant gift exchange.
Now why were we talking trash? Well it was mostly the three guys...Chris, my dad Larry and my cousin Derek because they were competing in the "mashed potato cook off." Each guy gets a bowl of potatoes and they can add anything they want. Then we all taste it and the winner goes home with the trophy....my grandpa's old potato masher. It's one of my favorite traditions!
We ended the night with more wine and delicious desert. My aunt makes an amazing prune cake (sounds weird, but is seriously A-MAZ-ING), my mom's berry pie, vanilla ice cream, homemade fudge and cinnamon sugar walnuts and almonds. So much food! But I love the feeling of being full and happy after a night with the fam. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that night! (There are lots!! Sorry in advance!) :)
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| My amazing Aunt Becky! Love her! |
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| Jace opened his gifts early! |
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| Dad had to help a little bit! |
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| Jace with his great grandpa Bob! |
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| Jace with my dad! |
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| Love my parents! |
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| Jace with cousin Ryen! |
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| The three bowls of potatoes and the votes....Red wins!!! (my dad!) |
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| Derek handing over the trophy, reluctantly! |
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| Winner! |
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| The prune cake...with the middle cut out for.... |
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| ....my cousin Derek! I guess he gets it since his mom made it! :) |
The next morning we celebrated Christmas at our house just the three of us....well four of us if you include Max. It was so nice and relaxing. Jace slept in until 7:45am! Woo hoo! He normally wakes up right around 7:00am....so that must have been his present to us! We opened gifts and enjoyed fruit and cinnamon buns. It was perfect! I love my little family!
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| Cookie and milk for Santa! |
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| Santa came! |
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| Our breakfast....candy cane fruit! |
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| And cinnamon buns! |
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| Jace had some too! |
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| Jace opening his "big" gift....we packed all of his gifts in one bag! |
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| Playing with his new toy....we only did a few gifts small gifts this year! |
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| New Jordans! |
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| And his very own remote control that we can program for "kid" channels! |
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| Thanks mom, dad and Santa! |
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| Chris with his gifts....and this knife sharpener! :) |
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| Socks + scarfs = happy girl! |
Later that morning after a quick pitstop at my parents house, we drove to Gilroy, CA to visit with Chris' family! It was a good thing we left when we did because we missed the huge storm that hit the Sierras the next FOUR days straight! We still had a long six hour drive (normally only 4 hours) because of all the snow and ice that was already up in the mountains, but we made it safe and sound. We enjoyed a fun week visiting with Pam, Paul, and Chris' brother's family. I will post pictures from that trip in a few days! :)
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