Christmas Eve 2012

Christmas Eve-Day was pretty laid back---we put some finishing touches on the meal for that night, watched the Grinch, and opened our Christmas Eve presents. Our first Christmas together, Miles and I started the tradition of giving each other pajamas on Christmas Eve. The boys were excited to get a much anticipated gift early, and so mid-morning we read the Christmas Story and exchanged jammies! Then we got ready, put the prime rib in the oven, and headed off to church 

Here is Mason opening- (er--chewing on) his jammies

We had a casual morning--watched the Grinch and the boys stayed in their jammies until it was time to go to church

Hurray!!! 

  This year was our fourth annual Christmas Eve dinner at our house, and it is a tradition that we absolutely love. A lot of work goes into this meal, and we view it as a Christmas gift to those who are able to attend. We are blessed to be a blessing to others on this particular day in which we prepare to thank Jesus for the ultimate gift. 


My husband is an absolute pro at prime rib. This year we had our biggest one---16lbs! That is a LOT of meat, and Miles cooked it to perfection. I am so blessed to have such a good husband, and one that can cook too!!!!

Here he is prepping the meat! 

One of the tables.... 

I made this centerpiece for the Duke City Christmas Party and got to bring it home. This was our centerpiece for Table 2. It went along with the ornaments that we made for each guest, which also served as our name places. 

And the other...

Our menu for the past three years (and not likely to change) has been Strawberry Spinach Salad, Twice Baked Potatoes  Pan-Fried Green Beans, and Prime Rib. We also served BBQ meatballs, pinwheels, and spinach and artichoke dip for hors d'oeuvres. Dessert has always been kind of hard for us to come up with, since we don't really have a traditional Christmas dessert. Last year we tried Bread Pudding, but it wasn't the best. Since there is so much food and most everyone is stuffed afterwards, we decided to make some bite-sized treats this year and I think it worked out perfectly. We had brownies, chocolate covered pretzel sticks, and oreo truffles. 

Dinner was served!!! 

Our guests... from left to right.... Uncle Tommy, Ali, Kristi, Austin, Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Kathy, and Gma Jean. 

Table 2: Mason, Miles, Miles V, Dana, Scot, Papa, Geez, & Mimi.

And dessert!

 After dinner, Uncle Scot and Aunt Dana took the boys upstairs and gave them some presents.

The boys came down to say their good nights! They love their Mimi! 

They sure love their Papa too! 

Our sweet little angels! 

Good night G'ma Jean! 

Closest thing we got to a family picture! 

Mason and I 

I love the candid pictures. This is one of my favorites!

After some of our guests took off and the boys were in bed, we had 'round 2'. Great Grandma Ann, Uncle Jimbo and Uncle Todd were able to join us. Todd and Jimbo both work at Sears and had to work until 6. We had a nice, calm time with them and were able to sit down and enjoy !!! 

 Thanks to everyone who joined us, we had a great time hosting and can't wait to do it again next year!!!