Christmas Day

I awoke fairly early considering I hadn't had much sleep the night before.  But that's how I am; an early riser.  I found that Hillary and Kevin were up.  Soon after, the other girls and Cathy awoke.  They all went to the fireplace to see if Santa had been here.  Sure enough, the stockings all had something in them.  All of them did....even mine and Cathy's and my cats stockings too!  The cookies were gone and only a little bit of carrot was left.  The milk had been drank as well.  Hillary was so excited because under the stockings, there were three gifts and some candy canes that held candy inside.  Santa had even left them a note! 
But they couldn't open the gifts yet as we were going to eat breakfast first. 



Kevin and the girls waiting for breakfast.

I started making french toast and Susan made a fruit salad with some bananas, Mandarin oranges and grapes.  We also had coffee and orange juice.  Once we were done and everything was cleaned up and put away, the girls were given the OK to see what Santa had brought for them. 



Susan, Suzanna, Hillary and Cathy.  Watching Abigail open her gift. 



Hillary, Cathy, Abigail and Kevin.  The girls are checking out the candy they received.



Hillary opening her gift.  They were given new pajamas!

                             

Abigail opening her gift.  Kevin is just taking it all in.

                        

Suzanna opening her gift.  As you can see, the bows are never wasted! 

Susan and Kevin each got a candy cane of candy in their stockings.  Cathy got a new M&M dispenser that had a green M&M character on it.  She collects the green M&M items.  I got two round tin M&M shaped candy holders that had the M&M's inside.  Yoda got three cat nip filled stuffed mice and Trouble got three cat nip filled stuffed tuna.  Wow, they both went crazy for awhile with those!  Everyone was happy with their Santa gifts! 
So we decided to open our name drawing family gifts as well.  We headed downstairs to the tree and passed out gifts.  Because Dad and Beverly and Cathy's roommate Kathy weren't here,  two people wouldn't open something today.  It ended up being Kevin and Suzanna.  The rest of us opened ours.
Kevin had my name and I received some beverage glasses they had found in Dickinson that match a set of glassware that was once Mom's, that I now have.  The only difference in them is that they have gold trim.  Mom's have silver trim.  Everything else is similar.  I also got an ornament that Susan had made in Norwegian Hardanger and coffee from the college in Dickinson that they sell for fundraising.  It's yummy!


Cathy with her gifts. 



Susan with her gifts.



Abigail with her gifts. 

                             

Hillary with her gifts from Me.  I had her name.  I gave her a personalized Cinch Sack (like a back pack with draw strings to close it), a shirt and an outfit for her Build-A-Bear.    It's the Abominable Snowman outfit you see on the home screen of the web site. 

Trouble (my cat) loved snooping through all the wrapping paper and tissue paper.  He went from one person to the next and played with all of it.  You can see him in the photo above next to Hillary. 

Then it was time to start getting everyone through the shower and ready for the rest of our day.  I went to the kitchen and put a pre-cooked spiral cut ham into my Smart-Pot slow cooker.  It would need about four hours to heat.  It had a glaze that we would add before serving.  We wouldn't be able to eat until about six thirty in the evening.  So for dinner, we ate left-over chili, salad and potatoes from the two previous nights. 


When the time came, Susan, Cathy and I began preparing several casseroles to put in the oven.  Baked oysters, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and scalloped potatoes.  Then we got my good china and silverware out from the hutch and set the table.  It looked so pretty!

The table ready to eat!

Before all the food was ready, I built a fire in my fireplace to warm the house and give the holiday itself a finishing touch.  Nothing feels better than a nice cozy fire!  The girls played games on the living room floor and Suzanna even decided to lay on the couch and catch up on her reading!  She appeared to be warming her feet!

Suzanna

Abigail and Hillary

Finally all the food was ready to eat and boy did we feast!  We set the casseroles on the counter buffet style and had everyone just fill their plate and then sit down.  There was so much to choose from and decided to eat dessert later on.  Our stomachs were just too full!  Along with the main dishes, we also had lefse that I had made and some home made dill pickles that I had from my own Mom's stash from years ago.  The glassware was once Mom's and so was the pickle dish that's on the table.  It's so fun to dig these pieces out to use and remember the past and occasions that we used them for as we grew up. 



It was a great relaxing day all the way around.  We munched on goodies and Ice Cream dessert.  The adults enjoyed some adult beverages and the kids played games and had kid drinks.  Tomorrow we'd have plenty of left overs to eat! 

After cleaning up the dishes, Kevin picked the rest of the ham off the bone and we cooked it in a dutch oven with some vegetables to have as a great soup base.  Tomorrow he would cook a recipe that used the broth. 
Stay tuned for more holiday posts!