I’m pretty certain, that every year of my entire life, I’ve said…..”Now THAT was the best Christmas ever.” And each year, I mean it. They just get better and better, and the more the family grows, the more people we have to share it with.
My Mother-In-Law thought it would be nice if we could all go to Christmas Mass together this year. I’ll be honest, we don’t go to Christmas Mass every year, but it was a pretty easy gift to deliver, so as many of us went as could, and I know that she loved having us all sit together on Christmas Eve.
After Mass, most of us slipped into pjs, then we had a houseful for food and presents. I always save the stockings for the end. Yes, Santa did bring the grandsons Fart Powder to put in their stockings. (Sometimes, I’m just a small child.)
I love sitting there watching everyone.
I surprisingly embraced the mess for a really long time…..
That’s Manuel, Tess’ boyfriend. This was his first Christmas with us. He might think we’re crazy. I hope not, because I love him dearly.
Grandma really likes him too. He thinks she’s a sweetheart, and she is.
These two played all night long.
He goes banana’s over Lego’s!
This kid loves everything, even Gigi’s silly hats.
Um, this one is starting to talk, a lot! The little one, not the big one, although the big one talks a lot too.
Such a warm feeling when you know they want to love on you.
She think’s her Papa rules the world. I could not love this picture more. (The $2.99 toy’s were a BIG it!)
Everyone stayed until almost midnight, and I loved every second of it.
Christmas morning we lounged for a bit with coffee and Christmas lights, then my dad and stepmom came over for brunch. I made a couple of casseroles. One was this really yummy Paleo casserole…..
I made two different muffins, both paleo. One was a Lemon Poppy Seed, and the other were these Apple Bacon Paleo muffins! We were in pjs and looking pretty rough, so no “People Pictures” were taken Christmas morning.
On Christmas Night, we went to my Mom’s. She made a great spread of Chili and snacks and yummy drinks. Mom has a fairly new neighbor. Her name, coincidentally, is Tess. (We don’t know many other Tess’.) Tess is from the Philippines, has little family here, and has completely adopted my mom, as her mom, and my mom loves her. Tess brings my mom delicious food all the time. On Christmas, she brought us over a huge plate of Spring Rolls and a pork dish that was made from a whole pig that roasted all day over an open fire. Uh….Yum! She’s super sweet and they are lucky to have each other as neighbors.
Mom’s apartment is tiny, but it’s always cute and cozy.
We did a little FaceTime with my brother in Florida. We literally passed him around the room. Manuel and my brother, met of the first time, via FaceTime. After FaceTime, we played “What’s Yours Like?”. Have you played? Lot’s of fun!
Let me tell you a short, short story. Tess and I are wearing almost identical necklaces in this picture. Manuel bought Tess her necklace for Christmas. When Tess showed it to me, I completely freaked out and ran up to my bedroom to get my necklace. My necklace belonged to my grandma, (my mom’s mom) and we have no idea how old it is, but the design is almost identical, and we couldn’t wait to show my mom. How cool is that??
Okay…moving on. We ended our night with a picture of Grandma and her granddaughters.
Saturday, the day after Christmas was spent lounging in pj’s, watching movies on the couch, taking naps, drinking coffee, snacking, more naps and more movies. However, on Saturday night, we took our kids out to dinner. Usually, we spend all of our time with our kids at our house, and I love that, but I feel like you get to know your adult kids in a little different way when you spend time with them socially too. We went to dinner on the Country Club Plaza. I love the Plaza at Christmas time. The lights are so pretty, and really, if you live in KC, or if you are visiting, you have to see the Plaza lights at Christmas.
So happy we all made it out to dinner!
We weren’t done chatting and telling stories, so we had after dinner drinks and dessert in a cozy part of the restaurant. I’m hoping we get to do more of this!
No matter how old they get, kids still like ice cream.
Maybe we’ve started a new tradition?
Sunday….more movies, naps, Chiefs football (We’re going to the playoffs!! Kansas City is killing it in with the sports this season!) more food, more drinks, more movies. Tess actually got up at one point and said…..”I think I have bed sores”. We did a lot of relaxing. Did I say that?
The tree was cracking me up by the end of the day with the lighting situation. I decided to sip on a Bailey’s and just enjoy it.
I got a lot of great gifts this year! A massage, a Hot Yoga towel for my mat, a scarf, beautiful framed family pictures, a really nice monogrammed vest, and this cookbook, that I’ll be spending a lot of time cooking from in the next few weeks!
We took Tess and Manuel to the airport late last night. They were on the last flight to Dallas, and we got home just as it startled to drizzle freezing rain. Everyone made it home safe and sound and Christmas was wonderful.
Food? Yeah, I ate everything in sight over the last four days. Last night, I actually felt sick.
I’ll blog about my food and exercise plan in tomorrow’s post. You know I have one. Right now, I need to go throw a bunch of food away!
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday!
“love the life you live, live the life you love”
I love that picture of the light on Mike’s face too! She kept coming up to him and turning that little toy on and just staring at his face. It was just so stinking cute!
You have to get “What’s Yours Like”! I bought mine on Amazon and it was delivered in like two days, but a neighbor has it and I’ve played several times before. It’s so easy. Let’s say you have eight people. One person is in the “hot seat”. A different person draws a card from the game and that card has a word on it. Let’s say the word is “garage”. You pass the card around to everyone, except for the person that is in the “hot seat”. Then, the person in the “hot seat” goes around the room and says “What’s Yours Like?”. One person might say…”Mine is really full”, or “Mine is really organized”, or “Mine has snow boots in it” or whatever. After going around with all the clues, the person in the “hot seat” guesses. It really is fun, because it is so obvious to everyone but the person in the “hot seat” and frustrating for the person in the “hot seat”. Wow, that was quite the description of the game, but I want you to play. Ha ha ha.
We have LCR, and I forget about it! I need to get that one out next time we get together! When I was a kid, we always played Yahtzee and Spades, and my grandpa would cuss through the whole thing, while a cigarette dangled out of his mouth, and he sipped on his bourbon. Ahhhh….good times.
Have a great time with your family in January! Maybe I’ll see you in 2016! 🙂
Julie
Thanks Lisa! The Plaza is great anytime of year, but especially beautiful at Christmas! It’s fun to know that someone is reading that knows what I’m talking about. Ha!
You have a very Happy (and safe) New Year as well, and I’m so glad you are enjoying the blog.
Julie
I loved this post and all your pictures. What a fun time with family! Lights at Country Club Plaza are beautiful. My father was from KCMO and every summer we would visit my grandparents for a few weeks. When I was 6, we went at Christmas and I remember seeing the lights at the Plaza. In fact, I hang a post card of the lights every year at my desk at work.
Have a very Happy New Year! I love your blog 💖
Again, loved your pics! My fav must be the one with the light shining on Papa’s face – always a special bond between a papa and his granddaughter! The other fav is of Manuel with Grandma – show’s he’s a smart guy….make friends with Grandma and “you’re in”!!! ha! Seriously, looks like great family time. Never heard of “What’s your like?” A game we always play here with our family that’s become a tradition is “Left-Right-Center”. Never heard of it until with moved to the SW, and here EVERYONE plays it at large gatherings – isn’t that strange how a game can be “territorial”? It is played with each player starting with 3, $1 bills and the bills are passed around the circle by the directions of how 3 die are rolled – to the left, to the right or to a pile in the center. At the end one of the players ends up with the whole pile of $1 bills which are in the center. Gee, gambling, I guess! I went back to work yesterday and my co-worker was showing me her pile of 72 $1 bills that was her lot over the holiday – see, this game is everywhere! My fav is to watch my 86 year old mom play it – it is VERY serious business! ha. 7 of my family from Oregon, including my Mom are coming for a visit mid-January, so I know we will be playing it then! … And yes, the pool side invitation is open for Tess, too! =) ronda