Christmas 2011

And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, Which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." - Luke 2:10-12

Christmas 2011 was a wonderful time! We are so grateful that we got to be with my grandfather for his last Christmas (see later post). It was a wonderful time of togetherness, fun, and food!

On Christmas Eve, my mother and I basted the turkey with rosemary butter and cooked it. Here you can see it transform from raw bird, to raw bird in bag, to cooked bird. :)







Later that evening, the family all went over to my parents house for Christmas Eve dinner of heavy appetizers and sandwiches. Here we all are in this picture - David, myself, my parents, my grandparents, my uncle, and his fiance Susan (who we were thrilled to meet for the first time!).



Here is my parents Christmas tree - so pretty -



When David and I got back home that evening, of course we left out cookies and milk for Santa...



And the next morning, they were gone, along with a note from Santa saying how much he enjoyed them!



On Christmas morning, David and I got up to have our "nuclear Christmas" before everyone else came over. We opened some of our presents too and from each other, as well as all the wonderful presents from David's parents. Here you can see David in the UNC Santa hat that I gave him, and me showing off the beautiful pearl bracelet that my in-laws gave me! Note the early-morning lack of makeup for me - yuck! lol





During our nuclear Christmas, David also read aloud the Christmas story from the Bible...



Then came the rest of the family over for the rest of the present opening - just look at all the presents under that tree!



I helped hand out presents...



One very cool gift - Susan gave Chuck (my uncle) a mailbox with their new last name on it - he loved it!



My grandfather and the advent wreath during Christmas morning breakfast - we are so glad that we have these memories of him!



Because we were having 13 people over to our house for Christmas lunch, we had to set up not just our dining room table but two tables in our living room as well...





I didn't get many photos during Christmas lunch because we were all so busy eating! lol. But here is one picture of my sweet hubby at the table...



After Christmas lunch, the rest of the family went home except for our cousins. We exchanged presents with them and played several rousing rounds of Catch Phrase! :)





We are so thankful for a wonderful Christmas!