Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas to you! I hope you had a great holiday. We spent Christmas Eve at home playing Uno Attack and going to Jolly Holiday Lights. The Hoop-lahs were up at 6 a.m. on Christmas morning. We headed to my mom's house mid-morning for another round of gift giving and dinner promptly at noon - an old throwback to the days when my aunt and uncle milked cows. They no longer milk cows (or come for Christmas dinner for that matter), but we still eat at noon. Men first. Tradition at its finest.

Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve. I'm never organized enough to take any Christmas Day.









It's rare that everyone in the Hoop-lah house winds up in a picture, so enjoy. You might not see one again for a long time.









Here we are with Grandma. She comes over every year on Christmas Eve. It's the one day of the year we give her the day off from cooking. Begrudgingly, but we do it. This year the kids convinced her to get up and work her magic on the beef and noodles though. They were scared I would ruin them. Not that I've ever done that.








We left cookies, carrots and celery out for Santa and his reindeer. Carly bugged me for days to make sugar cut-out cookies. It took me a while, but it finally dawned on me that she was worried we wouldn't have any to leave out for Santa. So we spent Saturday baking. Look closely at the candy cane in the picture. Hand frosted in two colors by me. I impressed myself!

The Hoop-lahs always open a present on Christmas Eve. This year they opened the ones they gave each other and -- SURPRISE -- they gave each other stuffed animals. If I should ever mysteriously disappear, be sure to look under the pile of nine million plus stuff animals that reside here. And no, I'm not exaggerating.

Last night we returned some odds and ends and had Riley measured for a dress shirt at Von Maur. That store may be more expensive, but the service there is exceptional. They will always have my undying devotion. He needs an oddball size, of course, because he is so long and skinny. We bought the first one we found. He'll probably outgrow it in a week.

Today we started our Full House marathon. We're on Season 3. We all love that show! So nice to watch something where the content is rarely questionable.

It's 5 p.m. I'm still in pajamas. This may be the best Christmas Week ever.