Christmas 2008

Christmas was as busy as usual. I had so many things to do at the last minute that I didn't get started on the brunch until about 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. I hosted Christmas at our house again this year, and I think everyone had a fun time. I made 2 pans of Creme Brulee French Toast, 2 pans of Hash Brown Casserole, and one pan of "cheese wad". That last one sounds kind of nasty to me, but it really isn't. You get a package of refrigerated crescent rolls and spread it on the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan. Then you get some softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and mix those together then spread on the crescent rolls. Then you get another package of crescent rolls and put that on top of everything. Pour some melted butter on top of that, then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. I was glad that I was able to make everything the night before then put it in the oven in the morning! (If you want the recipe just LMK and I'll post it here.)

We didn't let the kids come down until everyone was dressed and ready. Because I'd been up so late the night before we slept in until almost 8:30, got everyone up, dressed and ready. Then I let them all come downstairs after snapping a few pictures of them. (Kent came down at 8:30 to put the food in the oven since it would need at least 1 1/2 hours to cook... perfect since everyone was coming at 10.)

The kids got to open the gifts from Santa, Mom and Dad and Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Jacobson. Santa brought them Rock Band 2 so they were pretty excited about that. We got them new clothes, all of which they really liked. The family got a carpet cleaner. That's been on my list for the last 4 years so I was pretty excited to get that. We've used it already and it works well. I love that amazon.com has so many user reviews to help you know which items to buy! It was going to be my Santa gift, but Santa forgot to mark it as a gift when he ordered it so it was delivered on a Saturday and Trevor asked if he could open the new vacuum cleaner. Santa will need to be more careful next time! LOL!

Kent's mom and step-dad, my mom, my dad and step-mom, Christine, Cody and Evelyn Birch, Katie and Melia Jacobson, John and Sydney Flores, my little brother Allan, and Curtis, Ruth, Heaven, Austin, Ethan, Nick and Vince Noorda all came. Kent's dad was sick, and my other 2 sisters are in CT, and Kent's sister is in CA so they didn't come. We wish they could have come, though! We opened gifts from each other and had a yummy breakfast. In addition to all the food I made, Kent's SIL, Ruth, got juice for us, Katie brought yummy almonds, Julie made a really good fruit ambrosia salad, my mom made cinnamon rolls, fudge and chocolate cookies all from scratch, and my dad and his wife brought a pumpkin pie. I think everyone was completely stuffed.

After we were done opening gifts many of the people had to go to their other relatives' homes so the rest of us went to see a movie. That family tradition started when we moved here from Utah and didn't have family to visit on Thanksgiving or Christmas. It continues to this day. My mom and brother went to see Valkyrie, and we took the kids to see Bedtime Stories with the DeTemples. It was a lot of fun. After we were done I was so pooped from being up late, and getting up early that I couldn't imagine cooking anything. There weren't any leftovers so that wasn't an option. We finally found that Sonic was open so we got that and brought it home. Kent hooked up Rock Band, and the kids played that for a while.