Early Family Christmas

Today we had the first of our family Christmas celebrations with Chad's mom and dad from Salina and his brother Mark and family from KC. The day started out super busy; I woke up, walked to the kitchen and started cooking straight away. I put together green bean casserole, fixed up some homemade mac & cheese, and we put a ham in the oven. I mashed up some garlic potatoes and boiled up some glazed carrots. I forgot to thaw the rolls, so Chad ran to the store and got some that weren't frozen. At Chad's request, I even baked one of my famous pumpkin pies, despite the fact that we had tons of desserts from other events this week still left over in the fridge.

We maxed out the dining room table for the first time, using all 8 chairs even though it was a tad bit crowded. It definitely wasn't the best meal I've ever cooked (note to self: adjust the cook time when your ham is smaller and don't use low sodium cream of mushroom in your green bean bake!), but it was still a decent meal, evidenced by the fact that I ate entirely too much. Hopefully our guests (besides the two under the age of 8 who ate about two bites each) enjoyed the meal as well! Chad and I will definitely be enjoying leftovers for at least the next three days!

We opened presents after lunch, and although I was designated as the official family photographer, I didn't really do a very good job taking pictures. In my effort to take more professional pictures, I tried to go without the flash, but there just wasn't enough light in our living room and the pictures are pretty marginal. :/ This was one of the few from the day that I really loved, and it was really more about the moment than the picture itself! This is such a great picture especially because today Quinn really turned a corner with regard to his reaction to the dogs. Normally he's very scared of the pups when he first arrives, and it takes him an entire day to warm up to their affection. Today he walked right in without any nervousness or apprehension at all! We were so proud of him!

After opening presents, everyone went downstairs to watch the KU game that we'd recorded earlier. The boys entertained themselves playing with the Lego set that Chad's parents had given them for Christmas. It was such a nice, relaxing afternoon. After everyone headed home, Chad did the second round on the dishwasher while I worked on finishing some Christmas gifts. We've had a really relaxing evening of him watching sporting events while I've worked on loading and editing the pictures from the day. A great end to a great first Christmas!