--Christmas Eve
One of my favorite celebrations of the entire year is Christmas Eve night with my sisters and parents. We get together, have great food, and laugh a lot! Our parents literally spoil all of us rotten. The kids can hardly wait to open presents, and I can't wait for the mint dessert! It was no different this year. My mom has become an impressive cook. She somehow gets all of the food, perfectly cooked, out on the table at the same time. It's really quite amazing. We needed to take family pictures to put on an iPad that we bought for my grandparents, so here are the results of our attempt:
My mom & dad are the cutest! Mom lost 60 pounds in 2010! She gave her chubby daughter (me, obviously!) all of her old clothes! She looks amazing!
Last year with Shawn's family we decided to exchange "homemade" gifts with one another. I thought it would be fun to try that with my family. There were many grumbles and groans but I think it was sort of fun! Homemade gifts just mean a little more than buying a gift card.
Sabrina - Me, Steph, Lindsay - homemade, beaded bracelets. soooo cute.
Mom - Steph - Apron with cleaning supplies
Dad - Lindsay - Note on parchment paper (how creative! he was very proud of that...) and a gift card to Hobby Lobby so she could make her own gift. (cheater?)
Nat - Mike - Soft, jumbo size blanket
Shawn - Mom - Magnet board made out of metal with "Warburton" and an elk at the top
Steph - Jason - Movie gift basket (cheater!!)
Mike - Dad - "Homemade" salsa and chips from El Matador (another cheater!!)
Lindsay - Me - CUTE framed picture that says "Redd Family" and one for West with his date of birth and name
Jason - Shawn - Recessed lighting in our house
Yes, one of these gifts is not like the others! My brother-in-law Jason came over and helped us remove our outdated florescent lighting in our kitchen and replaced it with recessed lighting! Jason had already done this little project in my mom & dad's house. I was so jealous and somehow my mom talked Jason into doing it for our house! My mom & dad bought the materials for it as our Christmas gift and Jason donated his time to get it all finished. Isn't that awesome? Best Christmas ever, in my opinion. Except for cleaning up afterward. But I'm not complaining!
Shawn gave me a classic homemade gift as well. Engraved metal stars. He outdid himself yet again. Not to mention the "hoodie-footie" pajamas in Pepto Bismol pink! ha!! I actually have a picture of me in them that is never to be viewed by the outside world.
I actually entered this picture into a contest for free Jazz tickets and a free jersey on www.jazz360.com. We'll see if he wins! Hannah received "Go Go My Walking Pup" which Rags promptly decided to make the moves on.
Rags got a Snuggie. In Camo.
We had Shawn's parents, Sarah, and John over for breakfast casserole on Christmas morning, then we went over to the Redds later that night for dinner and opening MORE presents. Shawn's mom had already provided our family with another wonderful 12-days of Christmas, so we had presents for weeks before now! 
--New Year's Eve
We celebrated New Year's Eve by going to the movies - Hannah, Mylee, and I went to see Tangled and Shawn and Chance went to see Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver's Travels has Jack Black in it and it looked pretty funny. Chance came out of the show laughing his head off and Shawn came out of the show rolling his eyes, if that tells you anything about it. Now Tangled, on the other hand, was SOOOO cute! I loved it. Just a cute, feel good movie. West had a change of scenery and spent a few hours with Grandma Debbie. After I picked West up from Grandma's and was driving down my street, I noticed fireworks in the sky. They looked awfully close to my house. Come to find out, while I was at Grandma's, Shawn had produced illegal (Wyoming) fireworks out of nowhere and began to light them in the backyard, making everyone run inside after they went off so the police wouldn't know who was lighting them! That's the extent of our exciting New Year's Eve. When you're old and you don't drink, New Year's is pretty lame. Lighting illegal fireworks was pretty rebellious, though! The kids sure had fun by having Mylee sleep over.
--New Year's Day
Shawn, Chance, Hannah and Mylee all took a trip down to the Redds for a New Years Day feast of London Broil, twice-baked potatoes, and appetizers. Much football watching, as well. I stayed home with West and cleaned this messy house. It really looked like a tornado had hit.
--Day After New Year's Day
After church, my husband the chef prepared an early birthday dinner for me featuring crab legs and Rib Eye steaks! Heaven on earth. I attempted to make cheesy cauliflower but was corrected by the master chef because I did not thicken the sauce enough. It turned out okay, but I really just need to leave the cooking to the master! Lindsay made chocolate parfaits that were to die for. I wish my birthday was more than once a year just for the food!
--Birthday
Since we had basically celebrated my birthday the night before, I wasn't planning on doing anything for my actual birthday. All I wanted was a nap! Mr. West likes to get up every three hours NO MATTER WHAT. I think half of the time he is full and just likes to wake up to see if I'll go get him. So I did get about a half-hour power nap, which was all I wanted. But later that night we went to dinner to Texas Roadhouse as a family. They are famous for making people with a birthday sit on a saddle and embarrass them to death! I know I'm a party pooper, but I couldn't bear it so I refused the saddle treatment. Shawn and the kids gave me the FUNNIEST cards, one of them entitling me to a Kindle and case. It was a very nice birthday. I'm 34 now, but it wasn't a birthday I was dreading. "Age is just a number" is my new philosophy.
1 comment:
somehow i missed this post?
you never fail to make me laugh. i especially love how you called out the cheaters, and rags' new camo snuggie!
thinking about your birthday dinner is making my mouth water!
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