Yes, I know it's the middle of January. So sue me.

OK, so where were we?

Right.  Mid-December. 

Once the excitement of Misou and B’s surprise engagement died down (a little - I still squeal every time I think about it), it was time for the Henry’s to kick it into high gear for all the entertainment they were about to embark upon….

First up, the Annual Hopkins Family Christmas!

Every year I host my dad’s siblings and their children for a casual, relaxing evening of food, drink and storytelling.  This year was no exception, but for the fact that with all of the cousins growing up (I’m much older than most of them – they were all born when I was in high school), it’s getting difficult to get everyone in the same room at the same time.  On the bright side though, we’re adding more people in the form of boyfriends and girlfriends J 

Sydney made "gift bags" for each person - this is the inspirational message one of my cousins had in his - he took a picture of it posted on his fridge and posted it on Facebook for me :)

And that's the only picture I have - seriously.  I took no pictures.

The day after the Hopkins Christmas was Christmas Eve.  We have a rule – from 4:00 pm on Christmas Eve until noon on Christmas Day – no one in, and no one out.  This is our time as a family and typically I am either hosting my in laws or frantically wrapping and doing last minute shopping.  This year, it was neither, which was good since it SNOWED LIKE CRAZY!

I can’t remember the last time we had a true White Christmas – it was magical! 

CHRISTMAS JAMMIES!!!

Well, it was magical for us, but not for our poor neighbors, whose family couldn't make it through the snow (that shit was nasty to drive in) and who had an oven full of Osso Buco and no one to eat it.  So, we bundled ourselves up and walked down the street through the snow and had a magnificent meal together and then went home to get ready for Santa.

Well, I got ready for Santa since it looks like I am the only one in the house that still believes in him.  *sad face*

Santa was BUSY!!

The next day was Christmas Day – the snow looked amazing (and luckily the roads were cleared by noon) the kiddos slept until we woke them up at 8:30 (I’m not kidding) and we all had a wonderful Christmas morning.

$20 caption contest for Liv....

And then we had to get ready for Christmas dinner at our house, where we were hosting ten people in addition to our family of four.  Since we always have beef for Christmas we had tenderloin, roasted root vegetables, homemade scalloped potatoes, whipped sweet potatoes with roasted bananas and honey, and of course, lots of desserts.   Dinner was delicious and we fell into bed – happy, but exhausted - very late that evening.

The day after Christmas brought the clean up of the house and putting away of the presents and preparations for our NEXT party – the annual Henry Holiday Party – but this year, with a twist. 

But first, we had to say good bye to a loyal old friend….