Merry Christmas from the Tracy's

Daniel finished his semester of school and I got a whole week off from work so we packed our bags and to MissourA we went! We got home on the 23rd, so not much time to waste before Christmas. 

In my family, we open presents from family on Christmas Eve and then Santa presents on Christmas morning. Dan still can't wrap his head around it but luckily he has forever to get used to it lol. So after opening presents at my house on Christmas Eve we drove to my Grandma's house in Sedalia to visit with family and open more presents! There, my whole family got together with my grandma, aunt, uncles and cousins for presents, food and fun times.

LET IT SNOW!!! On Christmas Eve it started snowing and I was SO excited to have a white Christmas...but then it stopped and melted. This is ALL the snow we got the entire trip. Pathetic!

Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents from Santa. We spent Christmas morning with my mom, dad, brother Jason, his wife Margene and their four kids. They drove down from Detroit for the Holiday's. Christmas morning is always more fun when sharing it with the kids! If you remember, Santa brought us our gift back in November, BEATLES ROCK BAND! But he was gracious enough to drop a few things in our stockings though. Thanks Santa!

After we got cleaned up we drove to Dan's parents and opened more presents. Santa was even kind enough to visit us in Harrisonville and brought us matching PJ's! We spent the whole day and night there with Dan's mom, dad and two brother's, Jacob and Joseph. We went to the movies, saw True Grit (excellent movie) and Darlene made Christmas Dinner. It was a wonderful, cozy Christmas!

Besides PJ's and Beatles Rock Band, we also got lot's of other fun stuff. I got a new coat, a couple books, Wizard of Oz on blue ray and money. Daniel got new shoes, a bunch of blue rays, an Arrested Development T-shirt and  money.  Neither of us made Christmas lists this year so we were on our own to buy gifts and I think it turned out really well! It was a zero stress, laid back Christmas, surrounded by family and those are the best kind!

We hope yours was just as great! 

Peppermint Party!

Kylee and I have become quite the party planners! For the past few weeks we have been putting together a Christmas party for our friends. It was an ugly sweater party with a peppermint theme! We put our ideas together to come up with the yummiest peppermint treats to serve. Ky even made the cutest labels for each plate of sweets! Here is the finished product...(don't mind the pink cake lol)

WE HAD....

Hot Chocolate bar with marshmallows and peppermint sticks

Peppermint Oreo's dipped in white chocolate and rolled in crushed peppermint

My mom's famous bon-bons with a peppermint twist! (peppermint hersey's kiss baked inside a chewy chocolate brownie)

 Pretzel Rods dipped in white chocolate and rolled in crushed peppermint

And...lots and lots of peppermint!

We had all our friends over to my place Sunday evening. We were so happy SO many people showed up. A lot of our friends have young kids so Daniel set the TV up in our spare bedroom so the kiddos could watch Disney's UP while the adults could mix and mingle (genius idea). Not that many people got into the whole "ugly sweater" part of the party but it's OK...we still let them in! After guaranteeing our teeth a few cavities we wrapped up the night with some good ole Rock Band!

The whole evening really got us into the Christmas spirit!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and the Christmas season has begun! As tradition has it, we decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving instead of running around like crazy people on Black Friday. Our Disney Christmas decor is still small but growing! We just have our small apartment to decorate right now. I can't imagine decorating an entire house! 

To get in the Christmas spirit we went to the Mesa Temple to see the lights. I think every Temple should do lights during the holiday but so far I only know of Salt Lake and Mesa. It's so fun to walk around on the Temple grounds, see the lights, listen to carolers and watch people's faces light up at the Temple's beauty. 

The next few weeks will be busy for Daniel as he studies for his finals. And then in 2 1/2 short weeks we will be on our way home to Missouri!!! I love this time of year! I love it even more that I can walk outside and it's 70 degrees instead of 30 :) 

More to come on the Tracy's and the Holiday's!