Christmas Day - Tablescape, Food and Family

Christmas Day came early as we were hosting dinner at our house with everyone arriving at two o'clock.

I prepared a breakfast casserole a day in advance and popped it into the oven.

Eggs, cheese, bread cubes, sausage, ground mustard.

Bake for an hour at 350-degrees.

It's become our Christmas morning tradition.

I forgot to buy orange juice so my Mom and I had cranberry Bellini's instead of mimosas.

I had to rearrange things from our Open House to make way for Christmas dinner.

First on my list was to move my centerpiece to our entry table.

I threw this arrangement together at the last minute before my cookie exchange and I think it turned out pretty good giving it was a bunch of fake items from Michael's.

Then I put together our Christmas dinner table scape.
I really had no idea what I was going to do until Christmas Eve.

All of my creative juices were spent on our Open House menu and decor. 

This just came to me at the last minute.

I think it turned our perfect giving I used items we already had at the house.

I love to tablescape any time of the year.
I've been this way since I was a little girl.

My job on holidays was to always set the table.

I can remember wanting to live like The Ewing's from the hit 80's show Dallas and trying to put together a table like theirs.
LOL!

When putting together dinner I cut up a pomegranate for us ladies to put in a glass of champagne.
The last I had around for the holiday season.

For dinner Brad made a prime rib.

It's his favorite thing too cook other than jambalaya and homemade pizzas.

I attempted the Louisiana traditional rice dressing but started it too early and kept adding water to it to keep it moist until I ruined it.

I was so mad.

I had to go upstairs to recoup from my anger.

But.. then realized we already had a ton of food and since we had been eating for 3-days it wasn't a big deal.

The rest of our meal consisted of broccoli salad, deviled eggs, herb and cheese scalloped potatoes, rolls, pecan pie and all the left over cookies and treats from the Open House.

Before all of our dinner hoopla we exchanged gifts.

My parents stayed with us so we did ours after breakfast.
Other than the Botox that my brother and his kids gave my Mom, I think her 2nd favorite gift was this Shutterfly book I made.

She cried.

I got Brad a Kindle Fire.

He's in love.

Buddy got a new bed so we can keep one of his others at the lake for good.

He also scored a few fuzzy blankets to be wrapped up in.

My big gift were these gorgeous cowboy boots.
I picked them out weeks ago and was with Brad when he bought them.

Sorta lame?

Oh, well.

I also received these cute ornaments from my MIL.
She said the shoe reminded her of my wedding shoes.

I agree!

So pretty and perfect!

Speaking of MIL, Brad picked up this sign for the dock at the lake.
We all got a good laugh!

Thanks to Classic Annie's suggestion, FIL and my Dad both received a Polar Bear Cooler.
Can't wait to see how they like them.
I had never even heard of the brand.

Paigee received a kitchen set from my parents.

Reed received a motorcycle toy from my parents and a remote control car from Uncle Brad and I.

He was entertained.

I wanted to buy Paige this trunk of dress up costumes last year but didn't.

This year, I couldn't resist.
All princess, all the time.

Of course, I didn't mention all the wonderful things we were given but that would take forever.
The best gift we received was that of family being together this year.

It was the first year for my family(minus my brother and his kids), and Brad's family to do Christmas together.

I feel so lucky to have in-laws that are drama-free.

I look forward to many more holidays together!

Until then, we're resting up!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!