Merry Christmas #1

Here is the first post in my Christmas 2010 series.  Starting with Christmas parties.
As usual, we attended my parents ward Christmas breakfast.  It's always a morning of good food and reconnecting with old acquaintances.  The kids love sitting on santa's lap and digging through the bag of candy he always gives.  Afterwards we head over to the train show.

 

The Saturday before Christmas was the Fernelius family party at our house.  We started off with a delicious soup lunch.  I was surprised that with 7 people bringing soup, we had 7 different types of soup to try.  And not one Chicken Noodle!   The only complaint I heard was that there were too many kinds to try.  They were all yummy.  This year my mom decided to try something different and she brought a bunch of prizes and did a drawing for door prizes.  Everyone enjoyed getting an extra gift to take home.  Then on to the kids gift exchange and the white elephants.  There are always some crazy things and plenty of laughing.  The coolest gift was brought my sister, a messenger bag made entirely of duct tape.  It was pretty awesome.  One of the highlights is always the treat exchange.  Everyone brings a treat or snack for everyone else to take home.  It's always exciting to see what everyone brings and to taste all the yummy snacks.  It was a fun day enjoying the company of family.
A few days later, we headed to Benjamin's sisters house for the Palmer family  party.  (I  won't discuss the terrible driving conditions and Ethan puking in the car on the way)  This one also started off with soup and some various appetizers.  As we finished eating, Santa popped in with a gift for each of the kids.  And a Palmer party is never complete without a round of Bunco.  As usual, I sat at the losing table most of the night but I did win a prize (YEA!)  We finished off a nice evening with a Christmas story from Grandpa.
Coming next - we break our 12 year tradition.