Yes, it's true... the ground here in Idaho is completely barren of the cold, white, fluffy stuff we call snow... not the first Christmas I've spent in semi-warm weather, growing up in Southern Utah, but it was still a bit odd nonetheless. It's been a wonderful holiday though! Being home with the family has been just grand. :D I love being with my parents and siblings. They are so very entertaining... there's not a dull moment around this place, I swear! hehe.
The boys have been all sorts of spoiled with Dad bringing home dry ice every once in a while from work-- they've found all sorts of silly things to entertain them-- this would be the latest. They filled the bowl with water and plopped the dry ice in, then used dish soap and a thin rag to drag a bubble across the rim of the bowl-- thus resulting in a giant bubble filled with dry-ice-gas... hehe. So funny.
The brothers found a way to track Santa this Christmas online... it was so dang funny to watch them get the globe out and find just where Santa was... hehehe. I'm so glad to have siblings young enough to still really enjoy Christmas in the kid-ish way most of us forget. :)
So... for our traditional Christmas Eve competition (it's a different game every year... we compete for silly dollar-store-gifts.) we decided on a version of the popular food channel show 'Chopped'... as in, you're given several mystery ingredients to incorporate in a dish you concoct. We divided into 3 teams- sister/brother teams- for the entree round, then Mom and Dad battled it out in the dessert round.
Mom and Dad (our judges in the entree round) picked 6 ridiculous mystery ingredients to have us cook with... namely: alfalfa sprouts, dried pasilla peppers, plain yogurt, sunflower seeds, sliced ham, and candy canes... yeah, YOU try and make a delicious dish out of that!
My youngest sister and youngest brother blew us out of the water with their dish... it actually tasted good... still don't know how they managed that... ;) The dessert round was much much tastier-- partially because of the ingredients we kids chose to have them work with-- candy canes, marshmallow creme, frozen peaches, saltine crackers, and Yoohoo (a chocolate drink).
Christmas morning came quickly, it was probably the latest Christmas morning we've EVER had... it was nearly 7:00 by the time the boys had Mom and Dad up. However, it may have been a factor that we had decided not to open presents until after church. So, we enjoyed the morning with the toys Santa left and the stuffed stockings scattered about... then came a wonderful hour of church in which we got to sing 'Oh Holy Night' a Capella as a family-- we also heard from a couple incredible speakers... they brought the spirit of Christmas into the meeting so very well. And then it was back home to open presents... :D
The girls all received super warm, soft Snuggies from Grandma--- :D So fun.
Little brothers are still all AVID Aggie fans... this was probably one of his very favorite presents. 
And this... this was my very favorite present to give this year-- sister and I picked it out and the siblings helped buy it for Mom. She's been wanting a nice picture of Christ for a long while. It was definitely a great one to watch her open. :D
There you are, folks... another Christmas with my family done and over... and I'm loving every minute of being home.
