Christmas with the Chap's

Christmas has come and gone so quickly again this year! It was a great Christmas even though I wish we could make it last a little longer.

Christmas began for us on Christmas Eve afternoon with the Chap family. Eric's family came to our house to celebrate Christmas. Eric and I love hosting the Chap Christmas. It is a great opportunity for us to get the crew togeher at our place. We decided to "just" do appetizers this year since the food always seems to be an overabundance! Well "just" appetizers turned in to quite the spread! From shrimp to homemade soup to meatballs...we had it all! It was a delicious variety of food with leftovers to enjoy the next day:)

We spent the night playing "Rock Band." Guitars, drums, and even singing! It was music to our ears:) Most of you know that I am an amazing singer so I decided to let the others show their talents and I just watched from the couch.
After much food and play, it was time for presents. The kids had presents galore and enjoyed diving in to see what neat new gifts they got. After the kids were finished, the adults played the dice game. Always a fun time to steal a great present from someone else!
As the time got later and later...the kids were ready to hit the sack and wake up to find what Santa had left for them.

At this point, Madi is telling us it is time to call it a night!


On Christmas Day, Eric and I packed the car up bright and early. We headed south to Owatonna to have Christmas with my mom's side of the family. It was great to see all of my relatives, as we don't get down there too often.
After spending a couple of hours with my mom's side we headed north to Maple Grove to spend time with my dad's side. Once again we ate and spent time catching up with the family.
One last trip in the car to Abertville where we would stay for the night. My mom, dad, Josh, and Erin spent the evening together hanging out, opening presents, and being entertained by Lily. It was so nice to relax with my family for the evening!
A wonderful Christmas 2008! And we will look forward to Christmas 2009...so far away, yet so close. Time these days goes by quicker and quicker. I have learned that we need to enjoy all of the great times because they are here and gone so fast.

Merry Christmas!

Chap Cookie Day

Christmas cookies galore! The Chap girls get together each year to bake a variety of delicious sweets! Yesterday we baked everything from sugar cookies to rosettes to thumbprints. Goodies everwhere!

Ky, Nick, Izzy, Aubrey, and Amanda spent a lot of time decorating our sugar cookies. And a great job they did! They are great little bakers. Madi was our taste tester for the cookies. She loved her mom's sugar cookies.

We ended the night with a brilliant show from Tina. She performed a wonderful Christmas jig with her cookies! Lovely Tina:)

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

We celebrated our 2nd annual "Ugly" Christmas sweater party on Friday night. Robyn and Travis hosted a spectacularly "Ugly" party! It is amazing some of the ugly sweaters you can find. And what is even worse...is that people wear these sweaters!


This year, I even got Eric to get out of his scrooge costume and get in a Christmas sweater. It is a pretty funny sight to see and we may never see it again so look closely while you can! His sweater was awesome. It had pom poms on it:)




Josh and Erin came to the party with us. Josh was especially proud of his sweater! Before going to the party we went out for appetizers and drinks and he was sure to leave his coat in the car so everyone could see his sweater! Don't you think this would be a great sweater for him to wear on a regular occasion??!!

Josh and Eric proudly showing off their festive sweaters! What a sight!