The Mann's-Party of Five: Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas with Tim's mom here for a visit. She arrived just hours before the blizzard, so unfortunatley we spent most of her visit cooped up inside. Both boys loved having Nana here; Grayson got held as much as he wanted and rocked to sleep and Brady got lots of individual play time with Nana. We all love it when Nana comes to visit! We went to the early children's mass on Christmas Eve then came home and had our traditional Christmas Eve meal which is a blend of Quaderer tradition, Cooper (my moms family) traditions and the new Mann family traditions. For as long as I can remember we had salmon soup and finger sandwiches at Grandma & Grandpa Q's and oyster stew at Granny & Grandpa Coopers house. Then when I was in high school, my grandpa Cooper and I convinced my mom to add peel and eat shrimp cocktail to the menu-ymu! Now, since I've been making it on my own (we've spent the past 2 Christmas's away from my family-so sad!), I decided the traditional salmon soup and oyster stew recipes were boring, so I found new ones. Last year the soups didn't come out too well, but this year they were deeee-licious! (If I don't say so myself. Heehee!!) After supper we opened our usual Christmas Eve jammies and figts to the boys from Great Grandma and Grandpa Mann. We read The Night before Christmas and put out cookies and milk for Santa and some carrots for his reindeer. Christmas moorning then came very early. Brady woke up around 6:45 am and I put him back to bed and thought he was asleep, but about 20 minutes later I heard Tim get up and voiced in the family room. Tim had gone out to find Brady on his new bike saying, "Santa was here!" It was pretty funny. So, we got up and got the cinnamon buns cooking and coffee brewing, but I wouldn't let Brady open presents until he got Nana up-now that was a feat! Both boys then had a great time opening presents-even Grayson, which really surprised me. It was super cute! The boys made out like bandits and got lots of fun stuff. Brady was really into Christmas and Jesus' birthday this year and it was really fun to share in his excitment!

Our Christmas Eve spread. It doesn't look like much because the soup is on the stove and I was too lazy to get out my pretty china.