I LOVE Christmas. Time with family, good food, lots of laughs, giving gifts, shopping, Christmas lights, etc.. I just love it. This year was extra special for Craig and I because it was our first time hosting Christmas at our house. In the years past, we have always gone to Missoula for Christmas. Of course this is always accompanied by all the inconveniences of traveling in the dead of winter with many other anxious travelers. This year however, we were able to spend all our time, money, and energy getting our house ready for Christmas! My family came up a couple of days before Christmas and the festivities began. We had such a wonderful time! Highlights from this Christmas:
- Roasting hot dogs on the fire pit outside! It has been my family's tradition (forever) to roast hot dogs on the fire on Christmas eve before we open presents. In missoula, my family had a fire place we could do this on. We only have a gas fireplace so we had to do it outside on the fire pit this year. We have a deck right off of our kitchen where we put the pit. It turned out to be a lot of fun! It is neat sitting outside in the cold, next to a warm fire roasting hot dogs! It is always an exciting time because it is almost time to open gifts!
- Opening presents! Cliche I know...but I love giving gifts.
- Christmas dinner. We braved it and tried something new for Christmas dinner. With my mom's help, we cooked up a prime rib. I've never done this before but it is quite easy. It turned out wonderful!
- Decorating the table for Christmas dinner! My mom and I had a really good time getting the table all fancied up for dinner. It was complete this year with an absolutely beautiful center piece given to us by Craig's mom and dad. When we were done...the table could have appeared in a magazine :).
- Being woken up at 5 am by little brother because Santa had come. I love listening to him scurry around in the wee hours of the morning looking at all the treasures Santa brought him.
- Waking up again at 7 am to check on little brother. I should have taken a picture but I was worried I would have woken him up. He was curled up sleeping on the floor, next to the warm fireplace, with his toys all around him. So precious.
- Baking cookies. Cookies always taste and smell great, but at Christmas time, it is even better. I love decorating them with reds, greens, and whites. I love watching everyone enjoy them when they are done, and I love packing some up to have Craig run over to the neighbors. I love Christmas cookies.
- Playing games with the family. Polly bought several great family games for us this year. It was really fun to sit and have lots of laughs with everyone. We even played some poker!
- Last but not least...church on Christmas day. We missed church on Christmas eve because we started dinner to late, but we made it Christmas day.
Here are some snap shots of Christmas at the Neumans!
- Roasting hot dogs on the fire pit outside! It has been my family's tradition (forever) to roast hot dogs on the fire on Christmas eve before we open presents. In missoula, my family had a fire place we could do this on. We only have a gas fireplace so we had to do it outside on the fire pit this year. We have a deck right off of our kitchen where we put the pit. It turned out to be a lot of fun! It is neat sitting outside in the cold, next to a warm fire roasting hot dogs! It is always an exciting time because it is almost time to open gifts!
- Opening presents! Cliche I know...but I love giving gifts.
- Christmas dinner. We braved it and tried something new for Christmas dinner. With my mom's help, we cooked up a prime rib. I've never done this before but it is quite easy. It turned out wonderful!
- Decorating the table for Christmas dinner! My mom and I had a really good time getting the table all fancied up for dinner. It was complete this year with an absolutely beautiful center piece given to us by Craig's mom and dad. When we were done...the table could have appeared in a magazine :).
- Being woken up at 5 am by little brother because Santa had come. I love listening to him scurry around in the wee hours of the morning looking at all the treasures Santa brought him.
- Waking up again at 7 am to check on little brother. I should have taken a picture but I was worried I would have woken him up. He was curled up sleeping on the floor, next to the warm fireplace, with his toys all around him. So precious.
- Baking cookies. Cookies always taste and smell great, but at Christmas time, it is even better. I love decorating them with reds, greens, and whites. I love watching everyone enjoy them when they are done, and I love packing some up to have Craig run over to the neighbors. I love Christmas cookies.
- Playing games with the family. Polly bought several great family games for us this year. It was really fun to sit and have lots of laughs with everyone. We even played some poker!
- Last but not least...church on Christmas day. We missed church on Christmas eve because we started dinner to late, but we made it Christmas day.
Here are some snap shots of Christmas at the Neumans!
Weird Dog
Every year as a kid...I begged for an early present (little brother has since taken over this duty). This year was the first year I got a package labeled "early present"!!!
Playing a crazy game. Craig is trying to touch his nose with his tongue. 
Our Beautiful Table setting. .JPG)
The Center piece from Craig's mom and dad.
No comments:
Post a Comment