COOKin' Down South: Christmas with the Cooks

I absolutely L-O-V-E Christmastime!! If I could, I would decorate my house inside and out, so that Alabama Power would be sending us a thank you note for our usage. ;) But, the reality is, most of my lights broke while in storage this past year. So, I had a humble decorating experience. And that's ok. I've warned my husband though, that I'm going to need new lights. The good news: we have over 320 days to save for them. hehe

THE DECORATIONS

I never did get out to buy candles for the upstairs windows. Next year I guess. Also, the icicle lights never were put up. Again, next year. :D

Matt likes the decorated stair railing the most. I keep it up until the end of January just for him. If it was me, I'd have it ripped down before New Year's Day. hehe

I typically keep the large tree for myself to decorate. But this year I let the kids help me. It was good therapy. ;)

Hard to see, but there is a glass Nativity on the left to balance out the glass JOY jars

I made these with Dollar Tree glasses, an acrylic paint marker, glitter and ModgePodge

Our first Christmas card of the season

GIFT GIVING

(pics for the grandparents - Secret Sibling gifts are on another post)

This is what he wanted the most. It hasn't left his side since Christmas. :)

He was very happy to get this game, and daddy was happy he got it too. Father/son bonding time.

These shoot amazingly far! One bullet got stuck on top of the roof.

He was very happy about this one too. It's still in the building stage...

Our little architect of the family loved this. He immediately built a bridge without following the directions. Let's hope he starts reading blue prints before he starts building the real thing. ;)

Super Paper Mario makes a very happy boy

And he is the one who tested how far the bullets can go. On top of a two story house... no problem! :D

I wonder if he was excited about his Perplexus???

Our geologist in the making

She's so excited to have these football gloves. She and daddy went out after dinner and threw the football around.

Jams!!!

We missed the opening of the gift pic. There was a lot of screaming and excitement.

I was thinking that these things were, well, cheaper. So I told the boys they could shoot them in the house. They did. And when I realized that bullets were flying the length of the house and bouncing off of the walls on the opposite side, they quickly became an outdoor toy. ;)

This was one of his must haves.

He loves his new spark scooter. I think he had worn one of the spark makers off by the end of the day.

One of the family gifts. Bocce. My neighbor, when I was a kid, had this game, and my brothers and I loved to play it. Now my kids do. The other gift we got as a family gift was Bible Taboo. (no pic)

He's already used it! Our garbage disposal gave out the day before Christmas. So he fixed it with this bad boy. It's one that I can use too. Not too heavy. Balanced well. And super powerful.

FOOD, FUN, & OTHER STUFF

Our Christmas feast including deep fried turkey and smoked ham. With can shaped cranberry sauce! Not my finest work with the cranberry sauce, but you get that it came from a can... which is the goal.