Christmas 2010: Fourth & Final Stop: Home for Christmas Dinner!

{Eli snuggling with Grandad}

For the second year in a row, we had Christmas dinner at our house instead of at my in-laws house. Randy doesn't prefer it at our house because it doesn't feel like the traditional Christmas dinner that he grew up having, but it is a lot on his mom & I like being able to do it here & help take some of the stress of preparing it from her. Plus, we get to have a day at home with nowhere to go after all the crazy travels. Although, it isn't less stressful for me. I still have a turkey & appetizers to prepare, house to clean, & get all the chaos cleaned up from what Santa left in the living room! I took a picture of my turkey before it went into the oven (but totally forgot once it came out! Oh well!) I used an oven bag & added some fresh rosemary, fresh garlic, salt & pepper & I got many compliments on how yummy it was. That was exciting since it is only the 2nd turkey i have ever cooked...
While the turkey was cooking, the boys started off the day putting together the Police Command Center lego kit with Daddy...
Then Daddy left Jackson on his own since he needed to vacuum the house for me :)
Eli finished up his little kit from Grandma Evans & played with it for a LONG time while we worked in the kitchen & downstairs getting ready for company...
A couple of hours before dinner was to start, Cousin Becca came over early to watch "How to Train Your Dragon" with the boys. She says it's the best movie ever & since Jackson got it for Christmas, it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
This was also the point where i took a little break too, because I got suckered into the movie too. It was a GREAT movie & i would highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet!

About the time the movie went off, everyone else started to arrive & the grazing on appetizers like sausage balls & bacon wrapped water chestnuts began before dinner! I just made the turkey & a few appetizers, but everyone else brought part of the meal too. We had stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, field peas, yams, and yeast rolls too. It was delicious! For dessert: peach cobbler, pecan pie, tuxedo brownies, & cookies.

After dinner was all cleaned up, we started in on the gifts one last time! Randy got a travel gun case which he was super excited about & I got Friends Season 1 on DVD! (Already watched every episode too!) I also got a gift card to Archivers and some yummy hot cocoa & some Bath & Body Works goodies...
The boys got more toys of course! Jackson got a package of Bakugans as well as a carry case to keep them all in. And Eli got a Nerf type Buzz blaster gun. He LOVES it & uses it nonstop! Mema took the teacher route as usual & got them books! They love books! Eli got some Max & Ruby books ...

And Jackson got a box set of The Boxcar Children....
The boys were grateful for all their gifts & Eli even gave out hugs! It was a great Christmas of 2010! Thanks to everyone for making it special & may the new year bring lots of new memories with each other! We love you all!