Christmas Was Amazing!!

I hope everyone had a magical Christmas!  Ours was full of presents, fun and laziness!  :)

Jade came over on Saturday morning and we baked the pumpkin pies for her family dinner.  YUM!  She said they turned out wonderful!

Too bad you don't have smell - o vision!  They smelled super yummy!!!



Neon took this picture for me :)  Jade brought over these white chocolate covered pretzels (yuck, I don't like white chocolate) and we all teased her about how she didn't make them from scratch.  LOL.  The kids love these.

After Jade went home, the kids and I got some baking done. 


These are my Grama's recipe for 7 layer bars.  They turned out really super tasty!  Fun to make with the kids too because you really can't mess them up.



We also made Grama Darling's cake cookies.  Another easy recipe the kids could pull off with very little help.

After all the baking and cleaning up the kitchen afterwards, I was already tired!  So I took a little nap on the couch while the kids played games. 

Then it was time to get back into the kitchen!!  We had more food to make!

 Deviled eggs!  Another of Grama's recipes!  I like to keep traditions in tact as much as possible. 



The kids requested Ringtomditty which is a cheese fondue that my Grama used to make us as a meal.  You can dunk anything you want in it.  We usually do chunks of bread, hot dogs, chips, broccoli, carrots....Anything you like.  IT WAS SO GOOD!!!



I realize that I made a bunch of Grama Darling's recipes for Christmas so I decided to try a new one I found on the Internet.  Balance right?  So, this is Velveeta sausage dip.  It turned out really good and very salty.  We figured out the trick to this...Eat a little at a time so you don't SALT overload.  LOL.  I will be making this again.



My little smokie sausages.  The kids insisted that I make these.  They just love them.  Dazzle said, "Um, what are you doing with that grape jelly?"  "It goes in the sausage sauce!"  "Oh, WOW!", she said she had no idea.  "Well, don't tell your brother or he might not like them anymore!"  LOLOL 

We ended up telling Neon what was in the sausages after we ate and he didn't care one bit.  :)

I just took a random picture of the table.  I wasn't even finished putting food on it.  LOL 
I love Supa's Pub-Dizzle cup there....





And finally my plate.  Locked, loaded and ready to shovel in!  It was delicious!!

After we had our appetizer dinner and cleaned up the whole kitchen, we all opened one present.  (A tradition with us that Supa and I started)  Supa opened a USC hat that I got for him.  Dazzle opened Simon Flash (some new game they asked for).  Neon opened a new wrestling game for the XBox that they had both asked for and I opened a wallet that Supa and the kids got for me.  Fun times!!

Afterwards, Nearly called and she wanted to know if she could come spend Christmas Eve with us.  YAY!  The more the merrier. 

Nearly hung out with Supa and I.  We just chatted and laughed a lot as usual.  Then the kids played their new game with their Daddy while Nearly and I sat at the kitchen table, playing cards and eating cookies.  :)  We had an absolute blast. 

When everyone got a little sleepy, we fixed Santa and the reindeer a plate and a glass of milk.


I wrote "We Love You, Santa" on the plate to make him feel extra welcome ;)  Neon felt the need to leave him an extra note (the pink sticky)  It says, "Eat me!  Love Neon!"  We realized that the carrots I had been saving for the reindeer were moldy damn reindeer so the kids figured that the leftover broccoli would do just fine. 

The white stuff on the plate is sugar.  Those reindeer need an extra boost of energy to make it through the night and I was just plum out of sugar cubes.  LOL, who the hell has sugar cubes on their table anymore?

Nearly helped put the kids to bed and then she was off!  On her way home to get in bed before Santa arrived!  Supa and I went to bed too.  The kids warned us not to stay up too late so that Santa didn't have to wait around on the roof.  :P

The next morning we got up around 7:00.  The kids had been up for about an hour.  They were just sitting in front of the tree, not touching anything, and talking quietly.  (There are many pictures of the kids in front of the tree and opening presents for your personal enjoyment if you're friends with me on Facebook.)



The tree before presents got ripped open.



The stuff in the front is what Santa left!

Odie didn't feel like opening his presents (3 bags of his favorite dog treats) so we opened them for him while he watched from his curled up position on the couch.  Copper on the other hand was all about opening some presents!  This was his very first Christmas and he was such a good boy, never messed with the tree, decorations or presents.  Until we told him he could of course.....



Grrr! Rip that present open!!



He was ripping the paper and spitting it out on the floor :)  Good job, you very smart pup!

He finally has the green brush handle sticking out.  I guess I used too much tape :)

Copper got himself a few new bones, some treats and a brush.  He was very satisfied and he opened all his presents (with minor assistance).  (I can't believe how big he is!!  8 months old now!)  

The kids got everything they asked for and then some.  We got them the Kinect for Xbox and games to go with it.  We got Destiny the Udraw for the Xbox and Nana, Aunt and Papa Darling sent a package with a game for the Udraw in it.  They also got them Kung Fu Panda 2 and a few other things they asked for.  We got Neon a new pair of shoes he wanted.  There was more stuff then I even have time to mention here.  :)

Supa got a bunch of great gifts for me.  I just wanted to show you one thing that I especially loved!

My new wallet!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not all zombied out like Neon is but I just LOVED this!!  Crazy and dead sexy!  Just like me!  ;)

Aunt Darling and Papa Darling sent Grama Darling's diamond necklace for me to have.  I will wear it everyday and cherish it with all my heart!  It is super beautiful!!



 I know Grama loved it and I will take good care of it for her.

After we cleaned up the huge present mess, Supa made us a big brunch.  We have brunch every year on Christmas day because we are all sick of turkey and ham.  He made biscuits and sausage gravy, cheese eggs, hash browns and pancakes.  It was wonderful and very tasty!  I was so excited about eating that I forgot to take pictures!!  HAHA!

Then we had a huge food/kitchen mess to clean up.  Supa cleaned up the whole thing so that I could call Aunt, Papa and Nana Darling on Christmas ;)  Dazzle and Neon talked on the phone to their family, thanking everyone for their gifts when I was done and then it was time to have FUN, FUN, FUN.

Supa and the kids tried out the Kinect while i snoozed on the couch behind them.  Half watching, half sleeping.  I ate myself into a total food coma.  :) 

By then it was time to get up, take off my pj's, and get ready for Jade to come over!!  I couldn't wait for her to open her gifts from us!!

Jade gave me a Breaking Dawn calendar, a Breaking Dawn movie companion (which I also gave her so for laughs, we opened them at the same time), a butterfly purse mirror, a mini card wallet which I had been looking for, for months and couldn't find one anywhere and one other thing I just can't think of right now.....LOL.....

I got her a pair of Sperry shoes she wanted....(The same ones I got her for her birthday except in black this time!  WOO HOO!) some Bath and Body Works smelly stuff, AND I made her a calendar on Shutterfly with pictures of all of us over the years.  It made her cry.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!  :O  We had a really nice time, talking, unwrapping, eating and drinking and just spending quality time together.  I love that girl SOOOO much!!

All in all, it was a wonderful day.  I had a great time with my little family and even though I missed Grama Darling very badly and my family far away, Supa kept telling me that everyone loves me and Grama Darling was having a great Christmas in heaven.  He really knows how to make a girl feel better!  :)  Thank you, Supa, for being an amazing husband.  I'm so lucky to have you!!

Until Tomorrow, my peeps,

Apple