Twas' The Night Before Christmas ... and Then It Was Christmas

The past couple of days have been amazing and I'm so happy to be home and celebrating this time with family and friends. We jumped off the holiday on Christmas Eve with my brother in law's side of the family. We were over at his aunt's house in Toronto for a Christmas Eve dinner and it was so great to see everyone there. I haven't seen most of them since May, so this was long overdue. It was a great night with delicious food and so many jokes. I come from a big family so I am so happy that my sister also married into a big family. The more cousins the merrier and it always makes for an entertaining time.

This morning we opened gifts as soon as the kids woke up. I was actually up until about 2 am last night, doing all of my last minute wrapping. I am the queen of procrastination and I'm just proud that I managed to get all of the gifts under the tree in time. It was definitely worth it to see them get so excited for all their new toys. Christmas just isn't Christmas without over enthusiastic children around to brighten the mood.

Following gifts, I headed back to the kitchen to help my mom prepare our Christmas dinner. This dinner was one of my favorites because I absolutely loved everything on our menu. We experimented quite a bit with the food this year, but everything still turned out amazing. Our dinner consisted of: turkey roasted in coke and stuffed with cornbread dressing/ham, corn casserole, roasted potatoes, rice, mac and cheese and italian cake. Everything tasted sooo sooo good!

( We never did get a full family shot, but here's a nice one of my sisters, my dad and I)

I also tried out a new recipe for Glühwein (a hot German holiday wine), courtesy of SSJESS and We Took the Road Less Traveled, using this recipe. I altered it a bit by adding a few drops of vanilla extract since I LOVE vanilla and it turned out amazing. It was so delicious and it was a big hit with my dad, which is saying a lot because he doesn't even drink! Seriously, if you haven't tried it, try it out. It was super fun and easy to make. I definitely plan on endulging in this more often.

All in all, it was an amazing Christmas with amazing company. I love my family and I love this time of the year when I actually get to spend quality time with them. I am hoping everyone had an amazing holiday as well, especially all my Toronto neighbors, some of whom are still without power after the storm. This is a special time of year that should be embraced; it helps put in perspective the most important things in life! So with that said, Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!