Christmas

I didn't write about Thanksgiving nor take any pictures but it was great as always, however my window of time to write about Christmas is still open.

Our annual Christmas Eve tradition almost didn't happen. With a snowstorm on the way, there was a debate whether or not many of us would even make it to my aunt's house in Somerset, Wisconsin. While we already had a good 5-6 inches of snow already, the snow after that never amounted to much as they predicted. It just stayed too warm for the snow to really come down and instead we were hit with rain/snow mix. I rode with my parents to my aunt's house, while M went to his sister's house for to celebrate. Our families celebrate holidays often at the same time of day so for Thanksgiving and Christmas, M and I aren't usually with each other. We arrived at my aunt's around 4 pm. Christmas Eve is also my Gramma's birthday. We had many hors d'oeuvres

before dinner as we always do. I made a dip with shrimp, cream cheese and cocktail sauce. We said Happy Birthday to my Gramma and spent most of the time watching the kids open presents.

My nephews: Jack, Gunnar, Hunter, Keith

My Grandpa and Gramma

On Christmas Day, M and I opened our presents together in the morning. I got a few things from him but the one thing I was most excited about was the Kitchenaid mandoline that I've wanted!

I traveled the extreme 1.9 miles to my parents house for dinner, presents and games. We opened presents first. The show was mostly on my nephew Keith. It's fun to watch kids open their presents, one after another and then on with the next new toy. We ate lasagna, salad and bread. Later, we played some games and had snacks. Without getting into detail, I gave my mom a present, which made her cry. I NEVER see my mom cry! Of course that made me cry and then my dad started crying too. (Sorry, Dad.) Now you know which parent I get my emotional/crying side from. On the other hand, my sister gave my dad a present that made him laugh so hard. She's a joker of the family, along with my dad so those two together make all of us laugh.

Sorry Dad, I had to.






On Sunday, the 27th, I again traveled to my parent's for my dad's side of the family. My cousin is pregnant and they were finding out what they were having the next day. I still haven't heard officially from them, even though I saw it leaked on Facebook from someone else. :) And then my other cousin just got recently engaged and is hopeful to plan a 2010 wedding. That is in addition to his brother who also got engaged just months earlier who will also be getting married in 2010. Baby and two weddings in 2010...from one immediate family! We had a full turkey dinner, just like Thanksgiving, which is my favorite. I made a Swiss Vegetable Bake, which I learned of the recipe through M's sister, Cherrie. I always loved when she made it. Now I can carry on her tradition to my family. I also made a ton of cookies on the later weekends in December. I wish I took some pictures of them altogether but forgot to. Actually, I forgot to use my camera to take pictures of pretty much everything other than my nephew. I have to get better at doing so for family gatherings.

This was the only picture I took of any of the different cookies I made.