Christmas - Part Two

Our second Christmas party was at Uncle Scott and Aunt Jenni's house in Holland. Thank you for having us over and for hosting. We had a nice time and the kids enjoyed seeing their cousins. The older kids and adults had a blast playing with the Nintendo Wii, too. Thanks, guys!

Christmas - Part One (Cont.)

After we opened presents and ate breakfast at our house on Christmas morning, we got ready to go to two more parties. Here we are dressed and ready to go, posing for some traditional Christmas photos in front of our tree.

Christmas day is one of the few times you will see Clara wearing a skirt or dress, aside from maybe her birthday. I think she liked being 'girly' and wearing pink this year.

Holiday Breakfast Recipes

Before I forget, I'd like to share a couple of my favorite holiday recipes with you. As you can see from the picture above, the first one is for pecan caramel rolls. These are really easy to make and you assemble them the night before. Then, all you have to do is wake up the next morning and pop them in the over for 20 minutes. They're very easy, and very yummy, too.

Pecan Caramel Rolls

-1 cup pecan pieces

-15 Rhodes frozen rolls

-3 oz. box coconut cream pudding (not instant)

-1 cup brown sugar

-cinnamon, to taste

Place pecans in bottom of a 9"x13" well greased pan. Place frozen dough rolls in pan (3 across and 5 down). Sprinkle dry pudding mix over rolls. Melt butter and mix with brown sugar; pour mixture over rolls and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover with plastic and kitchen towel and let stand overnight.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes and invert onto large platter.

The next recipe is for another one of my holiday favorites . . . . . . . bacon quiche.

Bacon Quiche

-Go to Gordon Food Service.

-Buy their bacon quiche (found in the frozen section - ha, ha).

-Bring home and bake according to instructions on package.

It's that easy and nobody has to know . . . . . . unless of course, you tell them. :)

Christmas - Part One

Christmas morning was spent at our house. I woke up at 5:11 a.m. and could not fall back asleep. So, I decided I might as well get up and get some things done before the rest of the family woke up. I heard Clara over the moniotor around 6:00 a.m., which ultimately woke up Kyle and Craig. I think we were all excited about Christmas morning!

Craig and I went downtairs to get the kids and found a large something in Clara's bedroom with a sheet over it. It turns out it was one of Clara's presents . . . . . . . a kitchen. She was so excited!

Kyle wanted to know if Santa had been at our house and was anxious to run upstairs and see for himself. Sure enough, there were presents under the tree and the cookie, fudge and milk that we left out for Santa were gone. Kyle was very excited, too!

Kyle and Clara must have been very good kids this year because Santa was very generous. Clara received some kitchen accessories, and Kyle got Legos and a soccer net. We feel very blessed to have had such a wonderful Christmas.

After we opened presents, we enjoyed our traditional Christmas breakfast, and then the kids watched the movie Wall-E for a while. Before we knew it, we were getting ready to leave for our next Christmas party.

Twas the Night Before Christmas . . . . . . .

Here is our Christmas tree on the night before Christmas. Kyle and Clara left a cookie, fudge and milk out for Santa. Kyle also left Santa several 'presents,' or holiday pictures he colored for him. Craig and I stayed up very late getting the house in order and making last minute preparations for Christmas day. We love this time of year!

Christmas Eve - Part Two

Our next Christmas Eve party was at Kevin and Amy's house in Hart. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone, and ate way too much food!

Here are a couple of photos from this gathering. Unfortunately, most of the pictures we took on Christmas Eve did not turn out. Our camera is on the fritz! It was disappointing to come home and see that most of the pictures we took were very, very fuzzy. I think we may be shopping for a new digital camera soon.

Christmas Eve - Part One

Our Christmas festivities began this year with a get together at Grandpa Bob and Grandma Marilynn's house in Shelby. We sure are glad we have four wheel drive because the roads on the way up north were not great. The snow was piled up very high in places . . . . . . higher than some of the vehicles we saw. It certainly was an adventure getting up there, but we took it slow and steady and made it there safely. I think it helps that Craig lived in the upper peninsula for four years during college and has lots of experience driving in the snow.

Below are a few pictures of the kids opening presents at our first Christmas gathering. Kyle got an electric scooter which he can't wait to try out and Clara got her first dollhouse, among many other nice presents. We enjoyed seeing everyone very much! Thank you for everything.