Christmas for our family starts on December 23rd....Christmas Eve Eve.
Every year on the 23rd the girls and I bake cookies all day.
We made Monster M&M Cookies {HERE}, Candy Cane Kisses {HERE}, Fudge {HERE} & Ritzies.How to make Ritzies:
Make peanut butter sandwiches with Ritz crackers (I use Skippy Natural Creamy peanut butter)
Dip the sandwiches in melting chocolate & then add sprinkles.
Allow to cool, then enjoy!
Then the 5 of us go to dinner and then we go look at Christmas lights in our town.
One of the homes in our town has a light/music show. It is awesome. In front of their house they have containers to collect canned foods for the Food Bank.
We also have a Griswold house in our town. Every year it gets better and better!
The owners were in the driveway hanging out when we got there, so I made sure to tell him Thank you for always doing amazing decorations. 
Their electric bill is in the thousands each December. Yikes.
Day 2 of Christmas for our family is Christmas Eve. We go to the afternoon Christmas Eve service at our church. Here is the annual Christmas Eve pic on our porch:
After church we head to my parents for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner...Lasagna.
I grew up opening all my Christmas presents on Christmas Eve (and then Santa would come Christmas morning with 1 big present and stocking stuffers)
It was pure craziness at my parents with 5 little kids wanting to open presents. We got my dad a Quad Copter. He loves things like that.
It was pure craziness at my parents with 5 little kids wanting to open presents. We got my dad a Quad Copter. He loves things like that.
Then we headed back home to put the kids to bed & it was Santa time!
The girls left Santa some cookies and a beer....Celebration because it has snow on the label. Ha!
Kate also made Santa a rainbow loom bracelet :)
Kevin set up his old train set for Luke as a surprise since Luke loves trains.
I didn't take many pics in the morning because it's pure craziness!
Last year was a lego Christmas for the girls....this year it was all about American Girl!
After presents we headed back to my parents.
It's all about Jimmy's 3 meat breakfast & my mom's amazing eggs. YUM.
It's all about Jimmy's 3 meat breakfast & my mom's amazing eggs. YUM.
The boys played with their new race car track & we watched A Christmas Story.
Then we headed back to our house to get ready for having everyone over to our house for Christmas Dinner.
One of the perks of having both sides of our family local is that we get to see them all on Christmas.
I love that my family gets along with Kevin's family and that we can celebrate holidays all together. I know this is rare & I don't take it for granted!
Everything was delicious. My menu was on THIS post. I will for sure be using this menu again next time I host Christmas.
The next morning on the 26th, we headed to Kevin's parents house for Larson Family Christmas.
Our 4th and final day of Christmas! 
The only way to battle the exhaustion of 4 straight days of Christmas is
by double fisting....coffee in one hand, Gin Fizzes in the other. (And being comfortable by spending the day in my blardigan!)
It was a fun day hanging out with the Larson clan, eating good food and playing a family favorite...Cribbage!
On the 27th I took down Christmas & pack it all away.
Yes, I am one of those people who takes down Christmas right after it's over.
Every year, we put up Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and pack it up the day after Christmas.
And. I am so sad about it. I love, love, love this time of year, but
pack it all away because when it's over, its' over. I can't bear to look
at all the decorations anymore knowing that Christmas is over. And, plus....I am OCD...I need it all cleaned up :)
So, there you have it...our Christmas 2014. So thankful for another wonderful holiday with family.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas also....is your tree still up or did you take it down?
And......this Friday, January 2nd we are having our Pin-Spired link up! We took a break for December, but we are back for January!
(This Friday it will just be myself & Sheaffer because Shay is in China bringing home their new daughter Ashby!)
Can't wait to see what you wore!
haha it seems that you had a GREAT Christmases!! I think is funny that most of american take down Christmas RIGHT after the 25th, for us the Venezuelan Christmas isn't over till January 6 or 7 that is when the three wise men come to the houses and leaves candies for the kids, that's when OFFICIALLY Christmas is over for us haha and when we take down ours Christmas Decorations!
ReplyDeleteYour family always seems like so much fun! We took the leftover Ritzies to my inlaws in TN and they were a huge hit. Thanks gal, the recipe was a lifesaver! Did you hear that they just announced the 2015 American Girl of the Year a few hours ago -- Grace! I think I might be more excited than Alexa. I always wanted a Samantha when I was a kid so I am totally living vicariously through her.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Years to the Larson Clan! xoxo.
What a fun Christmas! I am planning our tree take down while drinking coffee this morning. This is the first Christmas the boys actually wanted to help decorate and they were very proud. My oldest wanted to keep it up an extra week so we did. Ready to get cleaned up. Start jan fresh. Food challenge with hubby too. Love me a fresh start!
ReplyDeleteWhat a busy Christmas you guys had! We have a ton of family, all close by too, and we spend TG and Christmas running around to see everyone. Our tree is currently up, but is coming down this evening.
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