The kids slept in until at least 7, some until 7:30. Not as early as I was thinking they were going to be up. They ran out to check if Santa ate the S cookies and cocoa we left him. They had left him a special note asking for bells from his sleigh. He was pretty gracious and gave them each one! I wasn't fast enough to get pictures of them checking out Santa's note.
Nathan got some Bionic Blox from Mommy and Daddy. They are really fun!
Esther was introduced to Playmobil toys for the first time. They now have a fairy line, which of course she was pretty excited about!
Jacob really got into opening presents. Of course, he liked Nathan's presents better than his own.
More "stuck!" when he couldn't get Nathan's new Hess truck from Grandpa and Grandma out.
Daron finally got his BYU diploma framed. Now it can go up in his office next to his law school diploma and his bar license. He also got a 2 man tent for camping from Santa which he was pretty excited about.
After opening presents, a late breakfast, and getting dressed, we drove around town delivering cards and Christmas greetings to the many singles in our ward.
Silver and white were the colors of choice this year. We invited 7 people over. It was a simpler menu this year so we didn't get started cooking until 4pm. Unfortunately, the pork was still frozen! So dinner wasn't ready until nearly 7pm. Oops. But it turned out yummy. Thank goodness for Cecilia and Ed's help in the kitchen!
I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of our guests. I meant to but I was so flustered just trying to get dinner on the table, I snapped a few quickies and then we sat down to eat.
I put these white beauties together myself - lilies, hydrangeas, daisies, and spider mums. Gorgeous!
Cecilia made this darling place cards! And I finally got some white plates that I've been wanting for awhile. I found this nice basic set at Pier 1.
Delicious spinach salad!
We had salad, roast pork tenderloin with root vegetables, ham, mashed potatoes with gravy (again hooray for Cecilia for saving me on the gravy!), toasty beans with parmesan, and hearty bread. We were supposed to have poached pears for dessert but they never cooked properly. Plan B was ice cream and leftover Italian cookies and cannoli. Perfect!
Each year I try to keep it simple but it always seems to go a little haywire at the end. I really enjoy having people over and feel that it is a way to show love and service to our friends. It was a nice day all in all. Merry Christmas!
