Now that my parents are back in NC and my cousin and her husband live in Greensboro, I thought it would be fun for us to have a “family Christmas”.  The weekend of the 15th worked best for everyone so the ladies started planning.  Matt and I provided the turkey and we split up the side dishes.

Everyone arrived at our house around 1:00 pm on Saturday.  Matt already had the turkey in the fryer and I was just about done making the rolls.  We stood around and talked for a while and then mom started pushing people to open gifts.  My dad had carried a large box into the house but I had no idea what it was or who it was for.  Mom told me it was for me and Matt (but mostly me) and to open it.  I was super surprised to find a 3 ft tall nutcracker in the box!  WOO HOO!  Last year I decided I wanted to start collecting them and then a few weeks ago mom and I saw one and I mentioned how cool it would be to have one beside the fire place.  🙂  (PS I’m on instagram set to private but you add me I will accept – aukelly)

After we opened our gifts, we started cooking dinner.  We planned it perfectly and the turkey was cooked and cooled just about the time the side dishes were finished.

I’m not super crazy about my table setting.  I think it needed *more* but I love the reindeer I found at Home Goods after Thanksgiving.  My plates were from the dollar store a few years ago and I found red placemats at Wal-Mart on Friday.  I used ornaments I had laying around for a project as place cards for everyone.

All in all I think everyone had a wonderful time.  It was great to see my cousin and her husband for a few hours since Matt and I will head to the beach on Christmas day.

 

~k