Christmas 2011

 Uncle Steve and Aunt Cindy with the fam.

 Cindy is a former art teacher and when she comes she and Brooke sit and craft together for hours.  Brooke is in craft heaven!!

 The loot this year.  American Girl Doll accessories, Xbox and games, and root beer? (Matt threw that in at the last minute)

 Always my favorite picture.  Torturing the kids by making them wait on the stairs.

 Christmas Dinner - Italian style. It didn't turn out so well.

 Annual tradition of Dad reading Twas the Night Before Christmas.

 At Christmas Eve service at church.

 Christmas Eve dinner - Italian Wedding Soup

 Dad and me going on a Christmas Day walk.

 Dad tieing flies with the boys.

 The flies they made.

 This year my mom and I took Brooke to see The Nutcracker for the first time.  She loved it!

My crafty Brooke created these iced Christmas trees all by herself.

This year I thought it would be a good idea to have a themed Christmas.  Matt's mom used to do that and it was always so much fun.  Each year we would wait in anticipation until she revealed that year's theme and everyone would bring a dish to go with the theme.  My parents had recently spent a month in Italy so I thought it would be a brilliant idea to have an Italian themed Christmas.  For Christmas dinner we had Italian Wedding soup which was delicious.  Then, our Christmas dinner was a disaster.  We made some kind of pork loin with a sauce, vegetable with a delicious marinade, polenta,  and red velvet cupcakes for dessert with white chocolate frosting.  The recipes came from Ina Garten (except the cupcakes) so you would think they would be great, right?? Wrong!  I didn't like the pork, the polenta was inedible, and the cupcakes were awful (how do you mess up cupcakes for crying out loud!!)!  The veggies were delicious and I love my veggies, but I would have liked a little more for Christmas dinner.  The funny thing is is that two days before Christmas we had Matt's boss and coworker and their wives over for a special dinner and everything turned out delicious!  It was one of those meals where it all worked and ended up being perfect.  So as much as I was disappointed in our Christmas meal I am glad the one we served to others was the one that turned out so well!  We always have so much fun with my parents here and then my aunt and uncle come the day ofter.  We didn't have snow this year but the warm weather allowed us to get outside some which was nice.  The kids successfully stayed in their pajamas all day and we had a wonderful day of cooking, opening presents, and movie watching (Elf this year!) while celebrating the birth of our savior which we all know is the greatest gift of all!