Christmas Recap

Our Christmas season was the best yet - even while being in my third trimester with a husband who had major knee surgery.  Sometimes realizing you can't physically do it all makes you relax a little:)

We kicked off the season with a 14-person dinner party for JD's employees and their dates at our house.  I wish I could say that it was relaxing, but we got a little behind schedule and I was pretty flustered by the time everyone arrived.  Luckily, some of the girls pitched in around the kitchen and I was only 15 minutes behind schedule.  We had wedge salads, beef wellington, creamed spinach, twice baked potatoes and rolls.  While that may not seem like much, I'm not sure I sat down for several hours until dinner was on the table.  I don't even know if I ate anything!  We all played a good game of Dirty Santa that was a lot of fun, and we finished out the night with apple cider (brought by one of JD's employees) and red velvet cake.

Later that week, we hosted our Sunday School's annual Christmas party.  Being a potluck, this party was MUCH easier than making all that food for the first party.  In fact, other than heating the rolls and putting the ham on the table, I cooked very little.  Twenty members of the class squeezed into our den eating and drinking late into the night.  It's always a good idea to start a Dirty Santa game after several drinks, then you get pictures like this:

Our Sunday School plays a mean Dirty Santa game.  No one had any qualms about stealing from a pregnant woman or a surgery patient for sure;)

My sister and her crew rolled into town a few days later and we got to enjoy several days visiting with them and my sweet niece Emma.  Despite all of her carefully planned kid-friendly activities, her favorite part was hanging out with Buddy.  Or as she calls him "Buddy Bear Budders."

Here she is taunting Buddy with cookies:

This girls likes my cookies. She was convinced one whole cooling rack was for her and the other rack was for Uncle Deedle.  I didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise:)

Emma has definitely inherited her mother's dancing skills style.  Oh well, at least she's pretty...

We had Christmas Eve dinner at my mother's house.  She made Megan and JD's favorite dish (chicken eden isle), and we all sat around enjoying her warm fireplace.  We have a gas fireplace, and while it is more convenient than a wood burning fireplace, nothing compares to the heat that a wood burning fireplace puts out.  I would switch if I thought I could train Buddy to bring in wood from a wood pile.  So far, the only successful training I've had with the dog is for him to do the opposite of what I say.

Christmas Day was at our house watching Emma open her presents and I got a few goodies for the baby too.  Clint and JD saw a movie and the girls napped until I needed to start dinner.  We played Dirty Santa with the family which pretty much involved Emma stealing everyone's presents.

The day after Christmas my two cousins and their families came over for the "Annual Cousin Gathering."  The name is ironic because my mother comes from a few generations of only children, so our entire family bloodline only consists of less than ten people, mostly paternal relatives.  We act like it's a huge family reunion every year, but we really have a very small family.  My mother was a big help for this meal and made the soup for everyone, so all I had to make was the cornbread.  My cousins and aunt brought the appetizers and dessert.

A few days later, JD's sister and her husband were in Memphis to visit Jacob's family so they stopped by our house for dinner and exchanged presents.  They gave me a funny onesie for the baby:

My sister and her husband were like angels sent from heaven - they packed up all of our Christmas decor and hauled it up to the attic for us.  JD brought it all down before the holidays, but that was also before he had knee surgery.  My mother came over and helped to wrap up all the Christmas china, and Emma even helped a little.  Sort of.  Well she just took a fake nap on the couch because she was too afraid to sleep in her room in case she missed something.  I remember that age fondly:)  After all that activity, we went to eat downtown and to the Grizzlies game with Megan and Clint.  JD and I have been married for six years, and Megan and Clint even longer (I think nine years, but could be wrong) and we have never gone on a double-date.  We all had a good time, despite witnessing Quincy Pondexter's excruciating season-ending MCL sprain.  Hopefully the Grizz can succeed without him for a while.