With Josh's grandmother having passed away last year and his parents moving to Bandera, we lost a couple of Christmas locations. It only seemed appropriate for the torch to be passed on to us to host a family Christmas and I was ready to try to cook everything myself.
I started off with a ton of cleaning and decorating...
I decided to make: Honey ham, green bean casserole, 4 cheese macaroni and cheese, yeast rolls, corn dip and crackers, and banana pudding....none of which I have ever made before.
But it all turned out pretty good. Things were a little cold by the time everyone got there, because some arrived a bit late, and my macaroni was in the crock pot a little too long, but it was tasty. I can't complain!
This was just the beginning...
We had a really good time. It was nice to have everyone together and enjoying their company!
We stuffed ourselves..
and then we opened presents...
We are so blessed!
Then after everyone left, my friend Carmela came over to watch the I Love Lucy Christmas Special...and she brought Vitameatavegemin that she created!!!
Cool things :)
Seriously, how busy is December?
Both of my kiddos had music concerts.
Caleb in concert band....
Jansen had a choir concert...
We had Ugly Sweater parties...
The kids had a church youth group progressive dinner....I was only there to pick the kids up at the end at the church so I was able to grab a quick picture right before they exchanged gifts...
My family participated in a little golf cart parade in our friends' subdivision. About 8-10 families in their subdivision have golf carts so everyone decorated theirs and we drove around singing Christmas carols...
We went out to eat at La Casona and took silly pictures...
The kids roasted marshmallows at our city's Christmas in the Park...
The kids baked with their Nana...
They watched Christmas movies and drank coffee, yes, coffee....
And we exchanged gifts with our friends. I got some awesome goodies this year...
Then I prepared for all the family Christmas parties we would be attending. I was hosting my first ever, cook a big Christmas dinner all by myself, Christmas for Josh's family on the 23rd. Then we had Christmas with my dad's side of the family on the afternoon of the 24th and Christmas with my parents that evening. Then we had our own Santa Christmas the morning of the 25th, then went to celebrate with my mom's side of the family for lunch, and Josh's grandparents for dinner. I'll make a separate post for those.
With the craziness of the holidays comes very little time for me to blog. I cannot believe that it has already been almost a month since my last entry. I need to get better at that, because even if no one is ready this tiny little blog, I am using it to chronicle our lives. I love to look back at the things we did together as a family.
So back to my Lucy camper. Oh how I love her. A few new things have been added...
an embroidered dish towel...
a new light fixture (which has not been installed yet)...
and a few new pieces to hang on the walls...
and my favorite, the cushions!!!!!!
I am in love with the super bright and cheerful blue color of these cushions, and it only took less than a week to get them completed.
And Josh and his friend were finally able to install the hitch package on my car, so we were able to see how things would go once I was ready to haul out.
She's smaller than my car! Isn't that the cutest?!
Anyway, school is about to start up for me again so I am not sure how much more work I am going to be able to get done. I would like to order some pillows and a banner soon, so that's what is on deck for Lucy!
