Christmas Celebration

So every year,
well, for the past three years,
but whatever, every year,
I, My sister Holly, and Caitlin our BFFL,
(Holly that was for you)

(I had to explain to Holly what the acronym bffl meant after we saw it on a t-shirt at Kohls and she looked at me like I was nuts that I knew it meant best friends for life...duh...come on..., kidding, give me some credit, no I am not in middle school...I have worked with teenage girls for seven years...you learn things...anyway)

What I am trying to say is that we have a dinner and exchange gifts every year. We try to make it nice, but I, UNFAILINGLY mess it up.

Last year I was an HOUR late because I had to make rolls from scratch and they wouldn't rise and then they did and then I had to bake them at my house because if I took them in the cold they would deflate or something, anyway again, I was an hour late, and by the time I got there, nobody wanted to eat them because they were so full from eating the appatizers while waiting for me, that they weren't hungry.

So this year it was at my house.

I was excited because I can't be late to my own house right?
Wrong.
I can be late to anything!
Anything.
Ask Holly and Caitlin.
They know this better than anyone.
Caitlin came over to help and she patiently prompted me every five minutes
(Yes Cait, I know this is what you were doing:-) )
What do you need to do now? Where is this? Can I help you with this? Where are the dishes? Have you started this?

I think I am ADD or something. Luckily, they like me anyway.

So I hate reading blogs where people just write paragraphs, but you had to know the story behind the story, so
on with the real blog that includes the pictures.



Holly was in charge of bringing the sparkling cider (Holly and Caitlin are serious about this dinner business.)
She got four, but the 80 yr old man at the register rang her up for SEVEN so she had to go and get three more, or brave the customer service line at WalMart
to get her money back
(she got three more).


Luckily the weather provided us with a
perfect cider chiller.
A foot of snow and my barbeque grill.



I dug out my Christmas fancy glasses.
I always forget I have them and then I am so disappointed that I missed another year to use them.
Caitlin did not believe me that they were from Arby's.
Those of us that are old know that Arby's used to sell really cool glasses like these every Christmas back in the day. Maybe they still do. Who knows. Anyway, thank you Arby's.



And I got out my Christmas dishes and silver chargers. (After several "Where are the dishes?" promptings from Caitlin.)
I didn't know what chargers were until I met Caitlin.
Now I do.
They add a little something something to the place setting. Don't you think?
Go Caitlin. My bloggers and I thank you for making it look prettier.



Holly made place cards for everyone.



And dug the little picnic table out from under mountains of snow
so that we could have a
kids table
and lets be honest,
so that my dishes and fancy glasses had a
semblance of a chance of surviving unharmed.

She will kill me for posting this because the wind was blowing her jacket and hair but it truly illustrates the mountain that she had to dig through to unearth the table.
Don't worry Holly, all who know and love you know that you are beautiful and awesome for braving the blizzard.



Ta-da! Kids table. Caden and Saxon loved it.



It looked so pretty all layed out. They even lit Candles.

After, we exchange gifts, and then Caitlin wanted to take family pictures in front of the Christmas tree.


See how Beautiful this Family is?
Color Coordinated and all looking (after some candy bribery) and smiling.
Remember this, this is what I wanted mine to look like...
yeah right.



Holly and Cory and Bryn went next.
Holly immediately said, oh yuck, I don't have makeup on
and Bryn kept squirming and whining and we couldn't figure out why.
When we finally listened she was wailing.
"My pants fall OFF! My pants fall OFF!
Sure enough, when Cory pulled her up on his lap her pants had gotten caught and they were half off her bum.
We didn't even notice, she sure did.
Laughter, laughter, more laughter.
Bryn did not think it was so funny.
This picture was cropped in Brynley's Honor. Hehehe



Then it was my family's turn.
Remember i was rushed.
I forgot that I didn't put makeup on,
Kenna slept through dinner and had just woken up.
Cohen saw Saxon's candy and did not want to sit on my lap,
and Caden would not sit up, or make any kind of normal face for the camera,
and Ryan kept blinking so every other one his eyes were closed.

This is the best we got and even that is
far from stellar.
As is becoming my mantra
WHATEVER.
My life is too short to care that much,
but someday,
SOMEDAY,
we are going to have a good family picture taken.
Someday.

The boys had lovely faces for Aunt Holly. They love her!

So the dinner was fun,
the pictures, umm...lets say...entertaining.
Only Three cars got stuck in the mountains of snow outside,
and the dishes are almost done.

I would count it a success.