Christmas 2012

So very strange...
I didn't take many pictures this Christmas at all.  Christmas Eve, I just enjoyed the company and food, happily watched the kids open their presents and visited into the night with Joni and Sparky.  I didn't take pictures of the more memorable gifts from PopPop Vern and Grandma Naomi, although I certainly should have!  Would you believe Angus got a big gallon Ziplock bag of mixed nuts and an industrial strength nutcracker which he and PopPop tried out on the buffet table later in the evening.  I'm not joking!  We're STILL finding teeny pieces of walnut shells!  And Maggie got a "boombox" radio/cd player with a very lovely cd of Disney songs that have been murdered by the likes of Justin Bieber, most notably the Jungle Book song, "Trust In Me".   Auntie Dawn sent a rocket launcher and two rockets. (She still hasn't forgiven us for sending the assorted percussion instruments to her kids, many years ago...) She also sent a big honking  rabbit puppet that freaked the cat out and raised excited discussion among the hunters as to whether it would work in tandem with the Merry Christmas Coyote Call they so thoughtfully purchased for themselves earlier in the month. Speaking of the hunters, they both got street signs that said, "BFF Blvd", because they ARE BFFs, you know.

I took a couple pictures on Christmas morning that I'll share with you, though...

Christmas exploded in our living room...
(Note the unambitious Irish Sitter on the couch. She's so lazy that she won't even get off the sofa for food unless she's POSITIVE it's going to be GOOD food...not junk like rice or cold cereal.  That's not even worth opening her eyes for...)

See the kitty cat in the upper right hand corner?  Elizabeth sincerely mistrusted the electric train.  It looked dangerous (why was no one else worried?) and it suspiciously kept going in the exact same circle over and over and over.

From a cat's vantage, it DOES look sort of scary.

I think she was hypnotized.  Elizabeth refused to come down off the couch and she couldn't stop watching the train.

"Did someone say bacon?"
(Opened her eyes a teensy bit to see if I was flim-flamming her, which I was, of course...)

The last straw was the rabbit who attacked the cat (tried to "kiss" her)!

Maggie dressed exactly like her new doll, waiting to go to Cowboy PopPop's house.

We loaded up after the guys got done feeding and drove to Dad's to spend the rest of the day eating. 

No, really....we spent nearly six hours there and most of the time we had food in our hands or on plates.  And it was GOOD food.

See?

Here's Zee Honorable and Most Exalted Chef, explaining how he instructed his sous chefs in the proper way to prepare the turkey AND the ham.  Without his tutelage, it would have been inedible, I'm sure.  We were fortunate he was around to keep things squared away and truly appreciated the excellent results.

(We Duttons are pretty serious about food. We're positively obsessed with GOOD food. We read cookbooks like novels and discuss recipes in detail.)

The pretty ham, covered in pineapple and cloves. Dad got it in Miles City at a butcher who removes the bone and re-rolls the meat making it easy to slice (but no ham bone for beans the next week seems like such a let down.)

Cranberries, the Thai cabbage salad and pretty veggies...

It's just so beautiful, the shapes and vibrant colors!

Waiting (not so patiently) for the grub.
And no, Maggie's not having wine! She's a straight milk girl.
(Yes, Grandma IS drinking wine, but she had it in a regular glass. It was disgraceful how many times she had to refill it...) ;)  Just teasing, Grandma!

And after a spectacular meal, complete with TWO different pies, REAL whipped cream and the exploration of the topic "What would you do if you won the really, really...REALLY big lottery?" , the Jenga game came out.  

You have to hold your mouth j-u-s-t right...

Grammy Karen has magic fingers!

It was a wonderful day!