Christmas

Christmas Eve: Luckily, we finished our shopping BEFORE Christmas Eve, so we did not have to venture out into the wild to get last minute gifts. We had a nice day of the girls begging to open "just one gift!!"....(Chris at his dads). Penny, the boys, my girls and I visited my grandmother in Ottowa, KS. We played cards and ate together...it was really nice to see her and spend some quality time.

At 5pm we attended the Christmas Eve service at our church. It was nice to see everyone again. I've always enjoyed the feeling of praying in church....there is something about it that makes me feel more in touch with God. After church we TRIED to run by the grocery store...but both Price Chopper and Hy-Vee were closed! Note to self: don't forget the potatoes next time...and don't ever think you're going grocery shopping on Christmas Eve. So- we went home and Jeff lit the grill. After letting it heat up for what seemed like an eternity I threw on the KC Strips that I had been marinating for almost 10 hours (Mmmmmmm!) I'm telling you....those were some GOOD steaks! Here is what I marinated them in:

• Kosher Salt & Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Teriaki Sauce
• Hot Sauce
• SMALL amt of A1

I like the taste of spicy meat....if you do too...this is a great steak marinade. After dinner, everyone opened one gift and the "out of town" presents. The girls loved their gifts- Jeff was very happy with his DICKS gift card (meant for new running shoes) and I was THRILLED to open my Garmin GPS. I've only been singing "Garmin dot com Garmin dot com" for about two years now. Luckily, Jeff revealed he got a good deal on it at DICKS...so I was relieved that he did not pay retail.

Christmas morning we slept in until about 10am. We woke up and had doughnuts (dont tell my diet). It was an unusual Christmas morning because we would usually wake up and immediately open gifts, but this year we decided to wait until Chris got home. At 11:30, Jeff and I went to get Chris from his Dad, and spent about 1/2 an hour with that side of the family in NKC. It was a nice time. We finally got home around 1:30 and opened our gifts from eachother. I LOVE watching the kids open gifts. We do not spend a ton of money, but we DO put a lot of thought into what we buy them. We got Jewel a nice ring from Kay Jewelers. It brought tears to her eyes when she opened it...that of course made me tear up as well. Lizzy got lots of reading material (of course) and a nice docking station for her IPod. Chris' big gift was new tools. He asked for them...and we got him a bunch of tools and a tool box which he is calling his "baby".

After opening gifts we relaxed (and cleaned up the mess) for a while. At about 4pm JD picked up my mother...and everyone in the family followed in the next hour or so. We had my brother Wayne, his wife and baby, Ruby (Jeff's mom), my mom, Penny, Kitch and the boys and our family.. Oh..and Andrei- Jewels boyfriend. We enjoyed a great meal...then opened gifts from everyone. It was SUCH a great time. My mother made me a scarf...I will cherish it forever. I LOVE it! I really loved watching my little baby niece teter around squealing and having such a great time playing with everyone and being passed from person to person. She is a great baby and really fun to be around. Some babies stress me out...but not Caroline. She is very pleasant and soooo cute. I wish we lived closer and could see them more. The Wii was a big hit. That was our family gift from Grandma Alice in Las Vegas. It is SO fun! Jeff and I decided to get the Wii Fit also...so between the 2 we had several hours of playing and having fun. Kitch, the boys and my brother loved playing with it too. I have been Wii "Fitting" for 5 days now and I'm SORE but I feel good. It's really fun.

I took down all of our Christmas decor on Saturday. I've always been the type of person who is ready to move on from Christmas before the new year. Just pack it up and get back to normal life! (That's my motto) I'm glad Christmas is over but I think it's one of the best we've had in a long time. Once again, the only thing that would have made it perfect is if my baby sister Dusty and her husband were with us. I miss them. Next year? Haha...