A Few Highlights From Christmas 2011!

Sorry to leave y’all hangin’ for so long, but our Christmas festivities just came to an end and now I have a moment to sit down and think a bit!  Just wanted to share some of our highlights from this years’ Christmas.  We’ve all been blessed with the hubs working from home while the princesses are on a bit of a break from school.  This has allowed us to do some things that we normally don’t get to do such as…

 Christmas Card Lane

The hubs asked me to take a pic of this….said it motivated him to want to watch the movie!   We always watch a Christmas movie together after the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve, so this was it this year! 

On Christmas Eve morning there were new bikes and scooters to ride….and the hubs joined in the fun with some WAY OLD roller blades!

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Christmas morning we continued our tradition of singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!

My first attempt at gluten free cinnamon rolls wasn’t totally a complete and utter failure!  As you can see by the picture, however, they didn’t rise like I had hoped.  They got rave reviews from the rest of the fam, but they weren’t “spot on” in my book!  I plan on making another attempt at them before I post the recipe for you all.

Christmas morning at Ignite Church

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We had a very enjoyable time celebrating Christ’s birth with our church family and the hubs even read a little story to the kiddos! 

Then it was back home to get comfy and open the rest of our gifts as a family.

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The princesses exchanged gifts this year and it was so precious to watch!  They got each other manicures so they could go on a “sister date” together!

 

I was more than blessed this Christmas with some wonderful gifts (and some lessons learned when requesting gifts!)

A big thanks to my mom for getting me this attachment for my stand mixer!  It’s a slicer/shredder attachment, which was fabulous for making the salad for our Christmas dinner at G.G.’s.  Just put the vegetable in the shoot and it slices or shreds all by itself!  LOVE IT!

Okay, so one of my favorite gifts from the hubs was this “Hot Air Popcorn Popper”.   I’ve learned a lot about “microwavable” popcorn over the last few months and let’s just say that we will no longer be partaking in popcorn that cooks in a bag!  I’ve had my eye on a couple of air poppers and was so thrilled to find this under the tree.

For the hubs it wasn’t so much about the health benefits of popping our own popcorn as it was about his wife being “hot and fresh!”  I made the mistake of saying, “oh, I love my popcorn hot and fresh!”  He proceeded to say to me, “oh, I just love my hot wife!”  Lesson learned…be careful what you say around the kiddos on Christmas morning!

This was my “be careful what you wish for” gift !  I had mentioned awhile back to the hubs that I might like to try Zumba.  I hear a lot of the ladies raving about it, but never got up the nerve to try a class.  After the “hot and fresh” gift, I open this!

Note to self:  must get up in the early morning while everyone is still sleeping soundly if you want to complete a Zumba class without being laughed at hysterically!  I was so not born to move like that!  However, it is fun (in the comfort of my own home!) and does pack in a good workout!  Enough said!

 

After Christmas day we had some family arrive from out of town, so we all met up at G.G’s (great-grandmother) for a big family dinner.  My job was to bring the salad, so a beautiful salad I made!

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Lots of veggies and a few cranberries for some sweetness

This was pretty much my dinner as there were no gluten free options, so I made sure to add some beans for protein!

So glad there were leftovers to bring home!

 

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The Christmas dinner spread at G.G.’s….twice baked potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, warm broccoli dish, turkey breast, and my lovely salad!  I also shared my cranberry-mango chutney for those eating the turkey.  For dessert…G.G.’s homemade pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies!  So sad that I couldn’t try any because they looked oh.so.delicious!  Next time I’ll be sure to bring a gluten free dessert, so I can indulge along with the rest of the family! 

 

 

Now it’s back to reality….planning “real” meals and doing “real” grocery shopping!  I actually enjoyed going shopping this week and getting a cart full of fresh veggies, fruit, and stocking up on the usual staples.  Coming in a close second to grocery shopping will be planning lessons for the next couple months of school.  Looks like I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, but do not fear, there are some recipes coming your way! 

My first task at hand will be showering the hubs with lots of love and fun for his birthday on New Years’ Eve!  Any ideas?  His only request is that there will be brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.  I think I can manage that one! 

Blessings,

J’lene