Christmas with the Wassenbergs

 "And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger."
Luke 2:16

Okay, remember from my last post how I said some of us went up to my Grandparents on Christmas Day?  Well, those of us at Grandma's slept in and woke up whenever we felt like it (another advantage of holidays! :).  When Grandma woke up she bustled around the kitchen making us some yummy Egg McMuffins, along with petrified credit cards (a.k.a. Spam).

After breakfast, Grandma and I went to the store (everyone else stayed at home) to look for some wrapping paper on clearance to use for next year. :)  Once we found what we needed at Kohl's' we stopped by McDonalds and got a drink.  Grandma got an iced cappuccino (or something) and I got a Pineapple Mango Smoothie that was absolutely amazing!!

Every year we build a Christmas puzzle with Grandpa and Grandma. We normally try and finish the puzzle before we go back home, but we didn't make it this year.  (The main reason being that we normally stay with Grandpa and Grandma for a few days and we only stayed one day this time.)

Around 12ish, Mama, and everyone who had stayed at home, arrived!

About 30-45 minutes later, Uncle Greg and his family showed up.  Soon, drinks were being poured and the food was starting to get organized.

 The dining room table.

The prayer was soon said and then we all dug into Grandma's wonderful meal! 

 Getting ready to eat!

Seeing as everything is better when paired with a picture, I'll give you a sampling of everything yummy!

Grandpa cooked up some yummy steak!

 The twice-baked potatoes get two pictures because they're that good! :)

 

Broccoli casserole!

And last, but not least, crescent rolls!

We also had garlic bread, corn, and I don't remember what else.  All I know was that it was yummy!

I couldn't go without a picture of our appetizers:  jellybeans!  I love these things!  The problem with them, though, is that they're so small that you convince yourself that eating a lot of them doesn't have any consequences.  :)

 Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas tree!

Gifts!

You see that amazingly handsome fellow in the round ornament?  That would be my Daddy! :)

We didn't open presents until 4 P.M., so, after lunch, we snacked on some of the yummy desserts.

My cousin, Amanda, made these wonderful snickerdoodles.  There were a lot more cookies in this tin but we ate most of them before I took this picture! :)

 My cousin, Diana, made these!

Every year we have a tradition (thanks to my Aunt Amy!) of icing and decorating sugar cookies.  This year my Aunt wasn't able to make her yummy icing so we found a recipe online and whipped up 3 batches.  We colored one icing green, one red, and one white.  We then sat at the table and applied the icing and sprinkles. :)

Eden (left) and Lexi (right) decorating!

Mmmm...

Amanda (left) and Josiah (right).

Grandma even decorated with us! :)

Working hard...

Some of the finished products!

 This cookie was Lexi's masterpiece.

Those who didn't decorate cookies (or took a break) sat in the den and watched some T.V.

4 P.M. rolled around and we all gathered in the den to open presents.  With Grandpa and Grandma, we normally have one person open their gift and then the person next to them goes.  We do this until all the gifts are gone!

Here are some pictures of the general havoc that comes with present-opening!

 

I now realize that I have not uploaded any pictures of Caleb opening gifts...sorry!

Our cousin, Amanda.

 Diana (a cousin, too!).

 Grandma.

 Grandpa did a great job catching all the wrapping paper balls thrown at him.  :)  He was the designated "trash picker-upper" and he managed to catch our trash and open his own presents at the same time. :)

 After presents, we all ran to the stairs to find our stockings.

All the grand-kids on the steps!

After the stockings were opened, we all took a break, ate some more desserts, played with/admired our new presents and relished in the family time.  :)

We watched Kung Fu Panda 2 later that night.  As it neared the end, Mama, Judah, and I left for home (remember we drove separately...) so we could milk Halle.  Everyone else followed in the van sometime later.

So, ended our Christmas with Grandpa, Granmda, and our Uncle and his family!

I'm sorry these posts are taking so long to complete!  I think I have one or two more posts about Christmas before I'm done. :)

Kimber :)

P.S. - Remember how I said that my Aunt couldn't make icing this year?  Well, that was because she has bone cancer and is in a lot of pain oftentimes.  She (and her family) have been through so much...please keep them in your prayers, if you can!

Christmas with the Nash Family

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1:21

Christmas morning dawned dark and early.  I woke up about 6:20 A.M. and at 7 we were out the door and headed to my Paw-paw and Na-naw's house.  (We call my mom's parents, Paw-paw and Na-naw, by the way.)  

Once inside their cozy house, we found Paw-paw cooking his wonderful Christmas breakfast! I soon went around and  took some pictures of the food before breakfast, because I knew there wouldn't be much left once we could eat it! :)

This is the wonderful cook, perfecting his scrambled eggs. :)

Bacon!

 These are Paw-paw's special blueberry pancakes.  They are, quite simply, amazing. :)

Sausage (he had spicy and normal)!!

Give me some butter with these lovely biscuits and life is good. :)

We also had grapefruit, eggs, plain pancakes, and more!

Uncle Kevin getting some chow. :)

Eden, Cadence, Gracie, and Josiah eating breakfast!

I love all the babies around right now!  Here Na-naw and Uncle Sean let Asher and Cameron check each other out (Cameron seems a bit uninterested! :).

The lovely Christmas tree!

After breakfast, we all gathered in the living room.  We started off with reading the birth of Jesus as recounted in Luke 2.  Then, Na-naw, with the help of Caleb and Seth, passed out all the presents.  Once every present was passed out, Na-naw said "Go!" and we all ripped into our gifts. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little while after the gift opening, our family left for church!  Mama,  Daddy, and Lexi were leading the children in singing a few Christmas songs in the sanctuary that morning, so we had to be there early. :)  

Church went well, and after the service we went back to Na-naw and Paw-paw's house for the monthly Nash Luncheon.  Family soon filled the house and more eating commenced!  

 

After all the yummy food and fellowship, we left mid-afternoon and went home.  We relaxed for a few hours, reading books, and doing random things around the house.  When the 4 youngest were in bed, Daddy, Lexi, Caleb, Seth, and I drove up to Northern VA.  We were planning on going up to Grandma's Monday morning but some of us wanted to go up early.  We called Grandma and she was fine with that, so up we went!  We arrived at Gpa and Gma's around 9:45 P.M. and watched the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing some Christmas songs on T.V.  It was quite an entertaining experience with Grandma's comments and Grandpa's disdain for choirs. :)  

So ended another wonderful day of celebrating Jesus' birth!  Even more fun was to come the next day!

Kimber :)