A Very Merry Christmas

I have not opened my computer since December 23. It has been blissful! I will spend this week recapping the end of 2022!

We had a truly lovely and very laid back Christmas. We did the annual sugar cookie baking at Nana's house. Issa got promoted to rolling this year:

And her friend Allison joined us! 

Evan won the award for most camera aware:

They were another round of very special cookies, but we did manage to make one tray that was normal enough to take to the neighbors!

The theme of this Christmas was Chopped, and Aunt Shannon had sweatshirts made to commemorate the occasion:

It's hard to see the fine print, but it says, "We're having a wonderful time!" in honor of Grandma Judy.

Christmas Eve we all donned Christmas jammies for Christmas at Nana's:

My children are so weird:

We had the now traditional mashed potato bar and played round one of Chopped--dessert. The kids were the judges, and it was Brad and I versus Mom and Shannon. We had to make a trifle including white cake, lifesavers, marshmallow fluff, and Hawaiian Punch mix. Mom and Shannon won that round. Brad and I went in too hard with the punch mix, resulting in a sweet disaster. Actually, neither trifle was great, and we spent way too much time just trying to get the sweet out of our mouths.

Santa came Christmas morning:

We had a quiet morning just the four of us with my first successful gluten-free overnight cinnamon rolls. Nana and Shannon joined for lunch, and then we had a fun afternoon of board and card games. We laughed way too hard at Family Cards Against Humanity, which may be a new family favorite.

Late afternoon, we did Chopped round two--appetizer. This round was bruschetta using baguettes, whipped honey, apple, and prosciutto.  They were tough judges:

Brad and I won this round, though!

It was just a lovely, stress-free, easy holiday--my very favorite kind.