Since we had a party here on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning...and all day long...we enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing day at home. We were totally separate from the world, just staying home and opening presents, watching Christmas movies, while staying in our pj's all day! It was awesome!
All the presents underneath the tree:
Trying to take a group photo, KW refused to turn around.
Of course lots more cars for KW:
IK asked for a ring for Christmas with his birthstone and here's his expression as he opened it. I picked up the silver ring with 3 peridots across the top on eBay and he LOVES it!
A Sudoku puzzle book for EJ, along with tons of Barbies, fairies, Littlest Pet Shop toys, etc. for both girls, and of course tons of Hello Kitty stuff for LA.
I found this perfect set of dinosaurs at Target for only $10!!!!! KW loves them!
Even Scarlet enjoyed a few Christmas gifts, including these tiny raw hide bones. Shadow received a giant raw hide bone too.
And Oliver's all time favorite toys are those twist ties that come wrapped around all the kids toys. He loved playing with a million twist ties as the kids threw them all over the living room.
More Christmas morning bliss:
A birthstone necklace for EJ.
A radio for LA who loves to sing at the top of her lungs.
New pj's for me. They're so soft & warm!
A surprise for SD. I wrapped up one of KW's old dinosaur's as a gift for him & this was his expression when he opened it! Down in the bottom of the box was an envelope with 2 tickets to a huge upcoming dinosaur show so he can take KW with him. I wanted to take the whole family, but the tickets were extremely expensive. I can't wait for them to go see the show next week!
The aftermath!
Watching Christmas movies.
And a really fun, new present for us! At Thanksgiving, LA won a big frozen turkey! So for Christmas we decided to buy a great big turkey fryer!!! This one is really nice, esp. because it's an oil-less fryer...which means we don't have to buy a ton of oil, or deal with all that messy clean up, or worry about a giant oil spill when you put in the turkey. Instead it runs on propane and it was incredibly easy to use!!!In fact, I got to lay around watching movies with my kids and playing on the Wii while SD took care of the whole thing! First, opening up the turkey. It happened to be already seasoned.
Here's the fryer sitting on the back patio.
The turkey loaded and ready to go.
Turning on the propane. It lights basically just like a regular BBQ grill.
In goes the turkey...
And then, a measly 2 hours later...
Look at how beautiful it turned out!!! And it wasn't soaking in a huge pile of oil. Perfectly brown and crisp on the outside, and moist and delicious on the inside. Now I feel like I'm writing a commercial, but it seriously was so easy to use and turned out awesome! We can't wait to try to take this fryer with us camping next year!!!
Not to mention the whole thing cooked in only 2 hours, my oven was totally free to use to cook everything else, I didn't have to slave away in the kitchen cooking all day long, and I never had to touch the bird (because ewww, gross! I just can't touch a raw turkey!).
Our kitchen table only has 2 chairs...and it's been like that for over a year now. But we gathered all the chairs we could find around the rest of the house, from the office, etc. and managed to sit down together as a family for Christmas dinner...our amazing turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing, and of course pickled beets & eggs.See that bowl with the bright pink swimming circles? Yep, it's not Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without pickled beets & eggs!!!
A German dish, and a family tradition I grew up with and have continued with my family. Sliced red beets, with hard boiled eggs and a mixture of apple cider vinegar and sugar with the beet juice until it just tastes right. I know, it may not sound good, but it's seriously beyond delicious! I love that my kids also love this dish, because it's a very special tradition for me.
Merry Christmas from our house to yours! I hope you all have a very happy holiday season!
