Saturday, December 28, 2013

Cousin Christmas 2013

We celebrated Cousin Christmas last Thursday. At the risk of TMI, it was a busier week than I had originally expected it be because I ended up being scheduled for a colonoscopy on Tuesday of that week. It was just routine since I have Crohn’s, but it basically meant that I was out of commission most of Monday and Tuesday as a result. Wednesday was pretty busy prepping for guests, and everything came together in the end, mostly because Jonathan is amazing.

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The kids put on a nativity play. Joshua was Joseph, Charlotte was Mary, the girls in the back were angels, and Breanna was the narrator.

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At one point, Charlotte took off her costume and decided she wasn’t going to be Mary anymore.

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Then she changed her mind at the end and decided to hold Baby Jesus.

After the play the kids exchanged their books.

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Charlotte got a Spot book.

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Joshua got The Ox Cart Man.

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Ben got a Lego book.

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Sarah got Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie

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Rosemary got A Pair of Red Clogs.

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Breanna got Misty of Chincoteague.

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Olivia got Celia Garth

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And Matthew got Guns of Thunder.

Then the kids opened their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Peine

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After presents, we ate lunch. Thankfully it was warm enough to be outside this year.

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So, since it wasn’t actually Christmas day, we went with a less than traditional meal and gave it a bit of a British twist. I put the wardrobe door back of from Rosemary’s birthday and we celebrated like we were in Narnia…or at least in Britain. So we enjoyed beef stew and parsnips with a spinach salad. We opened poppers and everyone wore their tissue paper crowns.

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I’d never had parsnips before…but they were like sweet carrots. And I made two kinds of stew. I must say that the Pioneer Woman’s recipe served over mashed potatoes was my favorite.

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We headed inside for stockings.

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Then we enjoyed fresh donuts for dessert.

Before everyone left, we snapped a few group photos.

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Merry Christmas!

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