Two of my Christmas Presents!

These are two of the cool gifts that my wife bought for me.

I have been talking about buying myself a smoker for quite a few years now, but never went out and did it. My wonderful wife decided to just go ahead and get me one this year.

These are not pictures that I took. I took them off of the Internet. I can't wait to get mine set up and start smoking stuff. I love smoked fish and jerky and I am sure I will find lots of other stuff to cook in it.

She also got me this neon sign. It came from the Rusty Nail, a bar that we used to go to years ago. They tore the bar down and she got this Coors Light sign for me.

Thanks honey.

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning at our house this year started at 6:30am. We got up and opened our gifts from each other. None of the presents under this tree were for us. They are all for other people in the family. We bought for 16 people this year not including each other.

These are our presents to each other. We ran out of room under the real tree and had to put them under the "Scooby Doo" tree.

We went to Laurie's moms house at 8:30. Here is Jerzie opening a present from her stocking. She was there for a while since her stocking was overflowing just like all of ours.

Jerzie took a little break after opening her stocking and we all opened ours. Jerzie wasn't on break for very long. She came back and started to open some of her other presents. After we were all finished opening, we sat down for a sugar filled breakfast. (left over cookies and monkey bread) We left moms at 11:45 to go home and load up more presents.

We headed to Laurie's dads next. We got there at 12:30. Grandpa and grandma were both very happy to see Jerzie. We had lunch and got ready to open more presents. Jerzie was all ready for opening. (maybe)

She was tearing the paper off and throwing it where ever she felt like.

Jerzie's mommy and daddy had a collage made from pictures taken during her first year. After seeing it, we know that we have a picture thief in the family. Jerzie was telling grandpa all about them.

We left around 3:30 to head home and load up again. Our next stop was Chris's dad and moms house. We got there around 4:15. Good thing we all live so close to each other. We would never have time to see every one if we didn't. This is Alexis opening her gifts from us.

She just opened a remote control car. She played with one at our house on Halloween and had so much fun with it that we decided to buy her one.

Every one seemed to like the gifts they got this year. We left at 7:30 and headed back to Laurie's moms to pick up our gifts that we had left there in the morning. It was a very busy day for us, but it all seems worth it in the end.

Christmas Eve!

This is the table of munchies that everyone picks at all night. There are 3 trays of cookies, 4 plates of candy, a veggie tray with dip, a cheese tray, gramma crackers, chex mix, white trash, pickled herring, and monkey bread.

More food is set up in the kitchen. There is scalloped potato's, ham, mac & cheese, rice pudding, dried beef bread dip, korv and jello. If you didn't get enough to eat, it's your own fault!!!

Jerzie got along with all of her cousins. She doesn't see them all that often so we weren't sure how things would go. Here she is sharing with Johnny.

She is in grandma's bedroom with Timmy and Becca checking the computer to see where Santa is at. He was in Canada when they checked. Maybe he was at PEA's house.
Mom gave all of the kids an 'Ants in the Pants' game. Here is Hannah teaching Jerzie how to play. She caught on pretty quick for her age.

Happy Christmas Eve!

We go to moms tonight and have dinner and lots of laughs with the family. There is always way too much food. Everyone brings a dish to pass and a plate of cookies. We have a great evening.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
Tomorrow is a very busy day for us. It starts at 6:00 AM, so we won't be able to blog. We have three different stops to make after we take the time to open our gifts for each other. It's a busy but fun day. Take time to enjoy your family.

Merry Christmas!!

"Christmas Hoopla"!

We finished up our Christmas baking today and worked on some other projects. Tomorrow we have to wrap our presents for each other and then we should be all set for Christmas.

Mom tagged us for the "Christmas Hoopla" so we'll try to come up with 12 things. Here are the rules: List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible. Please give Andrea some link-love as the “Hoopla-Creator!”

1. Laurie ~ We are both 37 years old and we still get a stocking at moms house on Christmas morning. (usually it is over filled!) We still fill one for mom too.

2. Chris ~ Christmas eve at my grandparents house was always my favorite part of the holidays. The house was always packed full and you didn't have much room to move. Grandma and Grandpa usually had to unwrap their way out of their pile of presents.

3. Laurie ~ While growing up Kim and I got to pick out our tree. One year someone a few blocks from our house was selling trees. Kim and I walked up the hill, got the tree and walked back home with it. We thought it was so cool that we got to pick our own tree. (some of the trees we picked out were dandies!)

4. Chris ~ Our stockings when we were kids always had an orange in one of the toes. (the stockings were two footed. I probably could have worn it when I was little)

5. Laurie ~ Mom always put a stuffed animal in our stocking at the top not wrapped. Chris still makes sure I get a special stuffed animal every year for Christmas.

6. Chris ~ I used to do my last minute shopping with my dad and uncle every year. (it was actually when we started our shopping) I do so much better now then I did back then.

7. Laurie ~ We always had a great Christmas when we were young. One year Grandma (Super Lou) bought all of us watches for Christmas. Have you ever heard five kids run around the house saying my watch says it such and such time?

8. Chris ~ My cousin used to sneak me shots of Southern Comfort on Christmas eve.

9. Laurie ~ We got engaged on Christmas Eve of 1992. (before we went to Chris's grandparents house for dinner)

10. Chris ~ I stuck my dads car keys in an electrical outlet one Christmas eve. (what was I thinking?) All of the power in the house went out and I was told that Santa wasn't coming since he couldn't find our house without lights on. (He came anyways!!!)

11. Laurie ~ We got to pick out an ornament from a Christmas store to put on the tree every year. (we still get an ornament every year from mom and usually one from Chris's mom and dad)

12. Chris ~ I take my favorite mother-in-law to get her tree, put it in the stand for her and make sure it looks nice and straight every year. (no wonder I am her favorite son-in-law)

We know that we are supposed to tag someone but it is so close to Christmas and every one is so busy we will understand if you can't get it done before Christmas. We are tagging Ann from A Mother's Minute and Pea from PEA's Corner.

What is going on??

We got this e-mail from our sister in law today.


Tabatha said...
Now our tree fell over last night!!!
Chris and Laurie, what did you guys start?
A new family tradition?, lol!

(They got their tree the same day we did and put it up the same day.)

We hope this isn't a new family tradition.
If it is this a tradition, I don't want to keep it going!

Cute Cartoon!

We thought this was funny. Sorry we haven't been visiting much lately but it has been very busy around here. We hope to get caught up soon. Thank you for stopping by.

Starting The Baking!

We decided to spend the day baking yesterday. We started around 9:00am. While mixing the first batch of cookies, our stand mixer started to smell funny. We figured it was because the dough we were making was very thick. We shut the mixer off and let it cool while we cleaned up the bowl and beaters to start the next batch. Well guess what? It wouldn't turn back on to mix the next batch.

Chris took it apart and cleaned it out to see if that would help. He cleaned the motor and the inside of the case, but had no luck.

The mixer was only 11 years old. Even without the stand mixer we managed to get 6 kinds of dough made. It sure was fun with the hand mixer.

With all of the setbacks this was the only picture that got taken of the finished cookies. (we sure are slipping aren't we?)

Christmas Photo Shoot!

Jerzie's mommy and daddy asked us to take some Christmas pictures while we had her last night. She didn't seem to be in the mood to have her picture taken, but we still got a few cute ones.

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This Is How We Feel!

We got our tree last Saturday and put it in the stand the same day. Yesterday we put lights and our ornaments on it. We finished at about 8:30. At 8:45 the tree tipped over almost knocking Chris down. Of coarse we had just watered it, so water was every where. We lost a few ornaments. Some of them broke, but we glued them back together. This has never happened to us before.

We took all of the ornaments off last night. Tonight we put the lights back on and re-decorated. The tree is up and it isn't going any where. (If it does, it will be going to the curb!! That is where I wanted to take it last night!!!)
We can tell you that decorating the tree isn't as fun the second time in the same week!!

Acappella!

We saw this on Peace Of My Mind and thought it was fun.

The groups name is Straight - No Chaser.

Homemade Ornaments!

All you need to make these homemade ornaments is ...

1 Cup of Cinnamon,

1 Cup of Applesauce,

and cookie cutters

Mix the applesauce and cinnamon together. (you may need to add more cinnamon as you go)

form it into a ball.

Roll it out and start cutting. (I put cinnamon down to roll it out on.)

Let them air dry for about 24 hours. (flip them over after a while so both sides dry)
I didn't use drying racks because I wasn't sure if they would leave marks on the ornaments.

Don't forget to poke holes in them before they dry so you can hang them on your tree or use them as gift tags on your presents. I have also painted them.

They smell so good. I have some that I have had for a very long time and when I get them out to put them on our tree they still smell good.

Saturday's Family Outing!

We have been getting our Christmas tree from the same place for years and years. They always have the most beautiful and full trees to choose from. We are not sure how many more years they will be selling trees. We have decided that after they stop selling them that we are probably going to get an artificial one.

The trees range in price from $20.00 up to $35.00.

We had good luck finding the "perfect" tree again this year. (decorated photos coming soon)

Jerzie wasn't quite sure what was going on since it was her first year helping mommy and daddy pick out a tree.

While walking around and looking at trees, all Jerzie had to say was "Oh Boy". She helped find just the right tree for mommy and daddy.

We loaded up 3 trees (1 in the red truck and 2 in the blue one parked in front) and we were ready to head out. Every ones tree is up with lights on it and we are working on decorating them.

Early Christmas Present!

Last year we got this guy on a clearance rack. We got a really great deal on him.

Today while Laurie's dad was out, we set it up to surprise him. He has been having some health issues and we thought that an early Christmas present might cheer him up.

The more you look at the face, the more he looks like he could be part of the family.

Santa and his chopper light up to be seen at night.

We could tell by the smile on dads face that it helped cheer him up a little.

Funny Wedding Dance!

We were watching Ellen last week and she showed this video of newlyweds who choreographed an amazing and funny wedding dance.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Movie Night!

It was bowling night for mommy and daddy on Saturday, so Jerzie came to Uncle Chris and Aunt Laurie's house for dinner and a movie.

We weren't sure if she would enjoy the movie that we picked to watch. We thought that we would give it a try anyway.

Have you seen the Muppet's Christmas movie?

It is a very cute movie and one of Aunt Laurie's favorites at Christmastime.

We think it is still a little too grown up for Jerzie. She lost interest in it pretty quickly.

She did watch about 15 minutes of it. We didn't think that was too bad for a 16 month old.

She did enjoy dinner. We made Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp and garlic bread.

Full Freezer!

Chris's deer was ready to be picked up from processing yesterday, so we drove out last night to get it.

On the way there I spotted this doe sitting in the woods about 15 yards off the road. This is a small wooded area between two houses in Busti.

We picked up the meat and told the owner (Mike) that we hoped to see him again before the end of the season. Chris can still get 2 more deer.

On the way home we stopped where the doe was at. There were 8 deer standing there now. There are 2 deer in this picture. The second one is in the back right peeking at us.

We ended up with 22 packages of Italian Sausage (6 per pack), plus all of the normal stuff like steaks, chops, roasts and the tenderloins.

The inside of the freezer and the door is pretty full. We split 1/2 of a pig with my brother this year too, so we have a lot of meat to eat this year.