We had family in town from Thursday afternoon through the next Thursday morning. We filled our house to near bursting and it was great. I really do love entertaining. Chris's sister and her whole clan were here, which includes her husband, three teenagers, and a dog :) Chris's parents were of course in town as well.
Our festivities included more Christmas shopping, lots of wrapping, game playing, and cooking!Chris and I also took Julie and Landon to Cinetopia for the first time. We saw the Hobbit in the living room theater skybox at van mall. Now this was our first experience at the van mall cinetopia living room mall. I like that the seats are still super cozy, the ottomans are individual, and you're super high up. What I didn't like so much was that you only had two rows for seating (what if I like to sit up close?) and the 'regular' theater is actually in there as well. It's just lower down and accessible from the first floor. The reason I don't like that feature is because I have come to enjoy moving experiences with the 21+ crowd (like no giggly teenyboppers) That's my only complaint though.
Well, other than that... we enjoyed a smorgasbord of food. I made Zuppa Toscana on the first full day. I made it in our canning pot because I made so much! It was definitely the largest meal I had ever made and it was so worth it. We ate on that soup for days! And there were ten of us! We also cooked a turkey that was yummy and on Christmas eve we all made appetizers and had those for dinner, including crab cakes, stuffed mushrooms, meatballs, veggies, and mini piggies in a blanket.
Christmas day brought with it a lot of fun, great gifts, nice visits, and a ten minute power nap for Peyton :) Highlight gifts for the family include: a kitchen for Peyton, a new Dyson animal vacuum for us, pots and pans for Julie and Landon, a new laptop for Ryan, lots o' clothes for Ashley, and lots of remote controlled toys for Zane. Chris picked out a great new shirt for me. His new pool cue arrived in time for Christmas so we wrapped that too! We got some great date stuff too, and I got a few Dutch Bros. coffee cards also! We definitely did well. It worked out great that Peyton slept while we all opend our gifts and right as we were finishing, she got up, so she got to open all her gifts with all eyes on her! She caught right on to opening gifts.
Final highlight... Day after Christmas light sale! Chris and I got up at 6am today to go scavenge the Christmas leftovers to prepare for next year. We scored big time! Your decor dollars go SOOO much further after Christmas, and this year I discovered something great. It's like Christmas comes early when you pull out the decorations because all this stuff will be brand new next year. We are adding to our light collection and as we always enjoy.. at a savings of at least 50%,
Here are some pictures of the grand events!
We have a button to turn on the lights, we taught Peyton how to use it, just for fun :) She totally enjoyed it!
Alright.. this is her ornament from last year (since this is her second Christmas) but I was trying out the camera and this one turned out nice.
Peyton loves to play with socks so while I was folding the laundry we put mismatched socks on her, she was super excited!
Peyton's pretty Christmas dress from Aunt Megan. We went to see Santa at Chuck's produce this year. It was FREE, there was no wait, and we got one nice picture out of it. Peyton isn't even crying!) Sorry that one's not on here, I don't have a digital copy.
After the Santa visit, obviously there had to be a mommy photo shoot! I have like a hundre shots, I tried to spare you :)
Peyton rocking a Santa diaper (no I wouldn't dare waste my money on these... we got them free LAST year when we bought something, and we had to guess what size she'd wear this year because they didn't have them small enough for her then). Still during the photo shoot.
Peyton did really well leaving the presents alone, even after I confused her by letting her touch them during the photo shoot.
Krumkake time (Norwegian Christmas cookies) Denny passing on traditions by having Ryan do the batter. This is a whole family involved kind of deal. Look as Peyton and Aunt Julie oversee, and Denny coaches Ryan through the perfect pour!
Ryan grabbing the thin cookies while they're screamin' hot and flexible, passing them off to the rollers...
Chris the roller posing with his cooling KrumKake. You can roll them in a cylinder or a cone as Chris is here. We love this Christmas Eve tradition.
Peyton biting into her first Krumkake. Aunt Julie even put some whipped cream in/on it for her as you can do. You can also just eat them as a rolled cookie.
Christmas eve spread! Yummy!!
Excitement builds in the Holm household as we all eagerly await Christmas morn' to arrive!
Lot's o' stockings to get filled! It made me smile everytime I saw ALL those stockings waiting to be filled! (On a side note, do you know how dang expensive stocking holders are?! We bought our four reindeer ones a few years ago on clearance after Christmas. I went on a hunt on Wednesday night before Christmas looking for 7 so we could hang all properly... I couldn't find one for under $9 a piece IF I found them at all.. and most were UGLY! I love family, but I'm not forking out $100 on hooks that don't even hold a filled sock!)
Wowsers that is a lot of gifts! Those were all to be opened by the immediate family staying in the house on Christmas morning. If you haven't noticed it by the pictures yet, we keep two trees because Chris and I couldn't decide between the tree in the front window (my choice) or the tree by the fireplace (Chris choice), so we have both! In the previous shot was the fireplace tree and that was for gifts that were for people not at the house Christmas morning, like my family. This worked out so well because our front room is much more spacious!
Peyton's first unwrapping... Jammies on Christmas eve, it will be her tradition, one gift, and she'll always know it's jams! She was intrigued by the paper at first, pausing to look at each bit she pulled off)
Gettin' the hang of this... tear, grab, tear... repeat..
Oooh monkey jammies in two piece and green ones in fuzzy footies!
Okay all done, back in the box you go!
Morning present time! Ryan opening his new computer! My nephew Ryan is taking college courses as a high school junior and he needed a computer to keep up on his coursework. He was content with that during all the rest of the unwrapping!
Ashley got Julie a light up pillow! She's in love!!
Puppy in a stocking. Maia is tiny and always cold so Ashley put her in the stocking! (Just so we're clear... no one got a dog for Christmas... Maia came with the Schilperoort clan!)
Mean aunt Jennifer super wrapped a gift for the kids... Here Ryan is trying to solve the puzzle...
Zane attempts brute strength... to no avail...
Ashley too tries tearing.... They all eventually got into it... Lots of hard work and calories burned for their McDonald's gift cards :) I learned that lesson from my dad to do kookie things to gifts just for fun sometimes!
Daddy got a new toolbox and there were 10lbs of gummy bears, yes you read that right, in the box! Way cool!!
Peyton's favorite stocking stuffer... a big girl toothbrush. We had previously just used a rubbery thing that fit over my finger... I am glad we got this one, and I'm glad she likes it because OUCH, her biting while I'm brushing was really starting to hurt!!
Super cute overalls from Grandma and Grandpa Holm
Mama and Peyton playing with her fake food for her new kitchen in her new covered wagon from Aunt Julie and Uncle Landon.
New gourmet kitchen!! Daddy, Uncle Landon and Aunt Julie worked hard to put it together. Peyton was so excited she couldn't wait for daddy to finish applying the stickers!!
Moving on to Grandma and Grandpa Holm's house. Peyton is laying on the floor waiting to be attached by Velveteen Rabbit that she just got from Aunt Megan and Uncle Richard. Funny story... Peyton will frequently hand you a stuffed animal and then flop over on the floor waiting to be 'attacked' by the animal with kisses. It's hilarious!
I'm starting to get worn out mom... This present business is tiring!
Peyton and her Strawberry Shortcake shopping cart from Aunt Megan and Uncle Richard. We are leary of these right now... Peyton tends to pull on things still and she tips it over.. we may have to park it for awhile until she gets better balanced. She loves to take things out and put them in it though. She also got a rockin' set of pots and pans from Grandma and Grandpa Caldwell that sizzle and boil. Let's just say she has a well stocked kitchen!
What Christmas is complete without a bow on the baby's head?! It even matches her outfit :)
We managed to get a family shot at my house (now that I think of it, I wish we'd done the same here at home with our clan). Peyton looks good in this one... Well everyone does (except me) I was trying not to drop the wiggly Peyton. Alas I shall sacrifice my good pic for the one with Peyton at least looking at the camera :)
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! The Holm's have once again been blessed and I am forever grateful to have so many loved ones near during the holiday season!
PJ's on Christmas Eve is our tradition too! I love it!
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