Highlights of our Christmas Weekend

We had a AWESOME Christmas weekend. As you can see from my photo collages, we took a lot of photos. These are a few of the highlights of our celebrations.

After a busy week of last minutes baking, sewing and shopping we enjoyed a relaxing Christmas Eve at our son and daughter-in-laws home. We went to early mass Christmas eve and then headed to their house for our traditional Polish meal of mushroom soup and pierogies. Jenny and Michael did a beautiful job of hosting and preparing for the dinner. Uncle Kaka gave the kids their gifts and we played Taboo. Lots of fun. 

Christmas morning we picked up my mom and headed to Michael and Jenny's again where we got to see what Santa brought for the kids and then had a yummy breakfast of crepes, potato and ham casserole and fruit. After a short visit there we came home to do the last minute preparations for Christmas at our house.

We opened gifts with Kyle, Evan and his girlfriend, Lauren. No matter how old the kids get, it is still fun to shower them with gifts, especially gifts they asked for but did not expect to get. This year it was an ipad for Evan. He was so excited!

It's also fun to give a handmade gift. Each of the boys received a Dr. Suess Grinch Christmas pillow that I made from the scraps received in a giveaway. Hop over there and see what Jennifer got for Christmas!

I also made Lauren a make-up bag with a waterproof lining and a mini-clutch.

The grandkids were sure excited about the crocheted slippers they received. It was a special blessing to have 4 generations here today, but I think it was a little too much for my mom. She has become used to her quiet life at Senior Living and total Christmas chaos at the Stanley home(s) was exhausting for her. Now we know a few hours of Stanley fun is enough for her.
Kyle and Michael were super tired and nodded off for a nap before dinner.

Our dinner of Prime Rib Roast, Yorkshire pudding, rosemary roasted potatoes, brussel sprouts and cranberry jello was delicious and well liked by everyone.
A last minute fix to Makenzie's slippers...I forgot to crochet the finished trim on one heel, oops!

One of the highlights of our giving was to have the grandkids read through a series of hidden clues to find their big gift. This video snippet shows their reaction.

Mr. Romance likes his pillow I made using a tutorial for the letters. I can't remember where I found the tut. If anyone knows, please tell me so I can give her credit. edited to say thanks to Katy for letting me know the letters are by Kelly at Kelby Sews. I made a few mistakes on the paper pieced letters, but it still turned out great and is a good size for lying around on the couch.

Although this quilt is NOT a Christmas gift, we gave it to Michael as an early graduation gift from the Fire Academy. He has been dropping hints that it is freezing in Bakersfield, so he got his grad gift about 6 weeks early so he can stay warm and cozy on those cold, winter nights at the fire house.

And the reason why I used the word AWESOME at the beginning of this post...Uncle Kaka's annual Christmas gift to his nieces and nephews is a song just for them.

in Kyle's own words, here is a description of the video: "For the last few years I have been making my nieces and nephews a music video for Christmas. Here is the video for this year entitled "I'm Awesome!". It is a song about everybody being different and positive about life. I am lucky to have some amazing friends who are also professional musicians who were kind enough to help me write/record/mix this during the busy pre-Christmas season (and even on Christmas Eve!!). Big thanks to Brandon Saller (Atreyu, Hell or Highwater), Ian Fowles (The Aquabats), Grant Arnow (Betawolf), and Christian Buenaventura (Emmy nominated editor of True Blood for his music mix at 3am Christmas Day) for taking the time to help out and make this happen. Feel free to spread the message to your little ones so they can say "I'm Awesome!!!"
This post is super long and I want to show you how I was spoiled too, but will save that for another day. I hope you all had a blessed time with your loved ones and that you will be able to relax now that all the preparations are through. I still have several gifts to complete this week. I gave myself some extra time because our eldest son and his family don't arrive until Friday.

Thanks for stopping by,

"di"