December began with our annual Hanukkah party at my sister's house with my Dad. Every year we celebrate together by making my Dad's special latkes (potato pancakes) served alongside a barbecued tender brisket. I look forward to the latkes, as I only get them once a year, and they are the yummiest, most delicious little things.
Christmas Eve morning, we held to our tradition of opening stocking stuffers up. I decided that stockings really aren't the best way to contain all of those little goodies. The stuff just doesn't fit!!!! There are always "stocking overflow" presents under the tree. The boys stockings were complete with snacks, candy, and various fun stuff like batteries, post-its, etc. Dave always fills mine with kitchen gadgets, office stuff, and my very favorite Dove dark chocolates. Dave's was filled with lots of "man stuff". Beef jerky, thermal socks, his favorite candies, clamps, bungee cords, etc.
That same evening, we held our annual dinner for Dave's family here at the house, and we served ham, mashed potatoes, and all the fixings. It was a delightful evening with Dave's mother and step-dad, and all of his brothers.
Christmas day, the boys opened their presents. We didn't do too much this year, so each boy got one nice gift, and a couple of other little things. Austin and Vance got dirt bike gear (jerseys and pants), and Luke got an Itunes gift card and memory card to expand his MP3 capabilities! We also added several movies to our collection this year.
Christmas day continued as we traveled down to my sister's house, where we stuffed each other's stockings (more like baskets), and enjoyed an amazing prime rib dinner. It was SO yummy! We had lots of fun watching Nacho Libre and just hanging out all evening.
We finally were able to take our Vasques Rocks hike that we do every year once the weather calmed down a bit. It was a beautiful day, and we all had a lot of fun hiking up rocks, investigating tunnels, and picking up the sheets of ice that were on top of some of the small pools of water. The boys always pack some of their stocking snacks for noshing, and it is always a memorable experience.
New Year's Eve, we had some dear friends over for an "appetizer dinner". My boys have been begging me to do another appetizer dinner, so I made pigs in a blanket, taquitoes, nachos, shrimp coctail, rumaki (bacon wrapped water chestnuts and shrimp), veggies and dip, and my friends Kelly brought some potstickers. It was so fun! We all stayed up until midnight having Wii sports tournaments and having fun together. Here are just a few pics I took:
The boys getting out all our ornaments.
Part of my collection of Starbucks ornaments my sister has been giving to me.
Our cute little kitty, Chipotle loved sleeping under the tree. He also enjoyed pulling all the ornaments off the tree, as well. Naughty boy.
The stocking were all stuffed!
Dave and the boys hiking at Vasquez Rocks.
Going down through a cool rock formation. This place has lots of cool things like this.
Dave being silly with his Slim Jim.
The boys stopping on the trail for me to take a pic!
Vance picked up this sheet of ice off of a small pool. He tried to eat it. Gross!!! Then he threw it and watched it shatter into a bunch of little pieces. Now that's fun!
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