Family American Style 2016: Christmas and all things wonderful

Christmas one of my favorite times of the year. In our house it is all about spending time with the family, eating great food, watching the expression of our son open his unexpected gifts and playing with them all day.

The routine is that Christmas Eve we have the Cisco Kid open all of his Christmas stocking gifts. My husband and I stay up very late and wrap all the gifts that evening. Of course I spend a lot of time setting the gifts up under the tree. I like that big WOW moment on Christmas morning when The Cisco Kid gets his first look at the gifts and I can capture that photo moment.

It is always a pleasure to have my Mother in-law and Father in-law come in town to spend the holiday with us. This year we had a special treat when my brother and my two nephew's joined us for the day. It was great to watch the three boys get along so well. My 16 year old nephew was so kind to play with The Cisco Kid who is only 10 years old. Their playtime was all about the Nerf Guns & riding the Dune Buggy. A typical boy thing.

First things First

Every year I make about 700 cookies and mail them out to relatives and friends. This year is not any different. I spent three day baking up a storm.

Christmas Eve.

Christmas Morning!

We can't leave our Cat out. This is the first Christmas we celebrated with our furry family member.

The Cisco Kid asked for a new bike for Christmas. We had no intentions of getting him a new bike because I knew he would be totally floored to get a Dune Buggy instead. We gave The Cisco Kid a gift that had three hints of what his present was. I took advantage of him thinking he was going to get a bike by wording the hints in that direction. The first hint was.....Since he has gotten so big, this present is too large to fit under the tree. The second hint was....The present has tires. He immediately said, Its A Bike! The Third hint was the remote control to the garage and the clue card said..... You can ride this and you have to be very responsible. Take the remote control and open the garage door too see what is waiting for you. WAIT FOR US!!!!!!

The Cisco Kid loves Twinkies. So of course Hostess makes a Twinkie maker. We had to try and make some.

They tasted good but the cake was on the heavy side and the cream was not as fluffy. The amount of sugar in these thing was crazy. But of course, he totally loved them.