After a sound sleep, and before my eyes were even open yet, I informed Geeps that he had to make a quick run to the market for me. The night before, as I was preparing our Gorilla Bread for the morning feast, I realized that I was also out of walnuts!!!! I am slipping! First the cool whip, then the walnuts! So Geeps scurried off to the market for me, and I got up to turn on the lights on the trees, preheat the oven, and pour that first cup of coffee that tastes oh so good.
I sipped my coffee while the house was still quiet. Knowing full well, that this would be the only "quiet" time of the day. Geeps arrived with the walnuts to save the day! The perfect amount AND already chopped, I might add!!! You done good Geeps!!!
And I put my elves to work making this amped up version of monkey bread that Paula Deen shares in her holiday book. We have made it every Christmas morning since discovering it, in 2007.
This ooey, gooey confection is another must have for our family. It is a bit fiddly to make, but oh so worth it! Geeps also got busy preparing the two pounds of bacon for our Christmas Feast. And Erika prepared the champagne for mimosas.
The family begins to arrive, and for the first time ever, we ate breakfast BEFORE the opening of the gifts.
Gennifer brought a crockpot breakfast casserole that was delicious! We had a nice breakfast, and before we finished, there were a couple of little people who were getting antsy to open presents!
We gathered around the tree and let the opening begin.
Sister love.
Santa left a present under the tree for me!
My son Drew is quite the present wrapper! I think he gets it from his father! He used packaging tape, and opening his gifts was not easy!
For the girls, Hello Kitty and Princess Dolls were big!
For Noah, it was Pirate Ships and Video games.
I had to laugh though. After the gifts were all opened, and the living room was cleared of bits of paper, tape and bows, I realized it had gotten awfully quiet, and found the kids in the den playing trains with this train set we have had for several years now! Go figure!!
This little girl loves her Geeps like crazy!!!! It melts my heart.
There is nothing like having little ones to bring the magic of Christmas to you. Having all of our grown children right here in town, and getting to be part of their every day lives is such a blessing. Our three grandkids will grow up truly knowing us. It is by far and away, our biggest blessing! And we are thankful for it every day!
Our youngest Drew, and his beautiful girlfriend Diana, were excited about their gifts this year. I think there will be a lot of cooking in their future.
Diana came over wearing the scarf and ear warmer I made for her. She is such a cutie!!!
After we had our morning of gifts and feasts and celebration, everyone went home to shower and get ready to head over to my Mom's house for our Christmas celebration with the whole family. I will have that for you tomorrow.
Yesterday, the day after Christmas, I spent at home in my sweats, doing nothing. No after Christmas shopping for this lady! What did you do?
XO Kris
22 comments:
what a fine day it was! your family is so precious. {heart} kris.
niki
I always enjoy seeing how your family celebrates! All of your goodies looked so tasty. I totally agree on the joys of being a real part of the grandkids lives. Such a wonderful gift!
What a lovely celebration for a wonderful family. It sounds like it was a perfect day. You are indeed blessed to have all your children live near you. I only have my one daughter and 3 of my 14 grands live near us. It is hard having them in Utah but at least we can drive to see them and do several times a
(My iPad froze up) I meant to say a year.
(It did it again!!). we spent a a lovely day with Mindy and like you I spent the whole day yeasday resting. (My iPad keeps skipping letters but if I go back to correct its freezes up...so...I will leave the mistakes and say goodbye....happy New Year with hugs
Your family celebration sounds just like ours. We are so blessed to have our daughter and her family five minutes away, wouldn't know what to do if they moved away! We eat before opening gifts and I know it's SO hard for the kids to wait! Such excitement! With all that's been going on in the news, I was having a difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit, I just needed to be around our two little monkeys to get the spirit going.
I stayed home yesterday, too. Put the house back together and hid most of the goodies...out of sight out of mind. I hope. We did venture out last night, I didn't want to go out in the 9 degree weather but we are getting a new mattress tomorrow and wanted to get a new pad. I couldn't believe all of the shoppers at Kohls! The clerk said it had been crazy all day, I felt so sorry for her! Enjoy your quiet time!
Hugs,
Deb
What a splendid day. I though for sure when it got so quiet the kids were playing with the boxes the gifts came in, boxes always seem to be a hit. I am surprised you had a store open on Christmas day to get walnuts at. All that's open in my neck of the woods is gas stations.
Sounds like a truly wonderful Christmas morning Kris. Our day after Christmas was a relaxing pj day, it was great! :-) Heather
Kris, it looks a lot like we celebrated, although we had the kids for dinner after a nice calm morning. :-)
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*H*A*P*P*Y* *N*E*W* *Y*E*A*R*!*
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((hugs)), Teresa :-)
Looks like a wonderful Chrismtas Kris! That monkey bread looks so good! I found a recipe on pinterest for one and I bought the stuff but still haven't gotten around to making it yet. Your grandkids are so lucky to have you and geeps. Oh how I would love for Brady to know that kind of closeness and love from his grandparents. My mother-in-law prefers the kids to be in the back t.v. room playing wii and not venturing out into the rest of her house. Very sad. Oh well...I want to be like YOU when I'm a grandma! No doubt.
Way to go Geeps!!!! Looks like the perfect Chrismas day for you and your family!!!
Kris, one of the great things about your blogging is that your family will have a vibrant account of your days to revisit and remember the love you have shared.
One way or another most of us went back to work on Boxing Day in our household. I actually spent part of boxing day recycling boxes, but I also posted about crafting some circles, too :)
I'm looking forward to visiting your next post...no pressure intended :)
xx from Gracie
Girl, I swear we must be related-except you have stores open on Christmas and we don't. This year I forgot the regular rolls for our lunch/supper and last year I forgot stuffing for T-day. It is scary when the memory starts to fade. Loved seeing all your loved ones having the morning at your house. You are right to say that grands make life so much better(so do kids that live near by, I agree with you).
We actually went out for Mexican food last night and hit the market today but want to stay in and stay warm. Our Ipad mini came and now I'm trying to figure it all out.
Hugs, Noreen
What nice look all Kris, and the kids look so cutr with their gifts and I love Santa give you and special gift!:)
enjoy the time Kris!
I think your oldest granddaughter looks like her grandpa. Sounds and looks like a good and busy time. I did go to my favorite store for the after sale and bought only a few gifts for next year and some wrap at Hallmark and came straight home. Today just resting and catching up on things. Happy New Year.
I just love seeing all the pics of your sweet happy family. Have a wonderful New Year, my sweet friend!!!
A beautiful post Kris!
So glad to hear you had such a lovely enjoyable day with your loved ones. Doesn't get better than that!
My house has gone a lot quieter with the departure of my middle daughter today. My grandson spent the night last night and is about to leave to go home with his mum :)
xx
A beautiful day to remember with these wonderful pictures, you are blessed.
Meredith
Your family Christmas looked great. Children are the best part of Christmas, aren't they? I use to open my presents last only because I loved to watch out daughters open their gifts. For me it was never about receiving things, but just seeing the expressions on the faces of everyone else. I saw the pretzel salad on your last post, I have made that several times too. It is another favorite of ours as well. Thank you once again for sharing your day with us.
(((HUGS))) Susanne :)
very nice. looks as if you are blessed in SO many ways! xo, Cheryl
What a fine day and so many wonderful photos. I really enjoy reading your blog.
Happy new year to you and your family here from Denmark
Hi Kris, I don't know why but when I changed the background on my blog some of my sidebars disappeared n I missed your Christmas posts.. Reading all right now and enjoying it so much ...I live to hear all of my "blogging friends" stories , and I feel like I was there with your family in a way ...
What a heat Chritmas ... All your family together ... This is all I want for Christmas ( someday when my kids are older) ... And life is good :)
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