Ruth's Chris Steakhouse With Travis

Last night Jason and I took Travis to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Louisville for his Christmas present. This is one of Jason and I's favorite places to eat at. We have been telling Travis forever how good the food is, so for Christmas we got him a gift certificate and told him we would take there. Neither of us had any plans yesterday so we figured that we better take advantage of this free day while we could and go ahead and go. The food was awesome and the three of us had a great time together. The only problem was that we should have checked the weather before leaving. It started snowing while we were eating and the roads on the highway got really slick. It took us three hours to get home from there when it should have only taken us and hour and a half. We heard on the news that there were over 50 cars off the road on the highway where we were driving through. We saw a lot of cars in ditches or flipped over. We were lucky to have come out okay. Even though it was a long ride home the food was still worth it.

Playing Games At My Parents House

Tonight we went over to my parents house to hang out and play games. Jason cooked a ham to bring over and mom and dad had lots of other snacks to snack on. My Grandma and Grandpa Folz stopped by for a little while. It was really nice to sit and visit with them. We only get to see them for a short time on Christmas Eve and there is always so many people that it is hard to sit and have much of a conversation with anybody. After we all sat and ate and visited dad popped some popcorn and we all played Trivial Pursuit on the PS3. We played guys against girls. Us girls thought that this was extremely unfair, but we held our own pretty well thanks to a few lucky guesses. The guys ended up beating us in the end but not by much. The kids all had fun playing together in the basement. This is Christian's favorite place to play. They have lots of toys and lots of things to do. We didn't leave until late because Jason insisted on finishing the game. Christian went straight to bed when we got home.

Christmas Day @ Grandma & Grandpa Shetler's House

Our last stop on Christmas Day was to my Grandma and Grandpa Shetler's house for Christmas dinner and to open up the presents that Grandpa had bought for all his Grandkids and great Grandkids. It was really sad when Dad was the one to pass out all the gifts instead of Grandpa. Jason got a pair of ski gloves and I got a scarf and glove set. They are so soft and warm and I will always treasure them. After we opened up presents we ate dinner. Dad fixed beef tenderloin and everybody else helped with the sides. Everything was delicious! After dinner my Aunts and Uncles decided to start dividing Grandma and Grandpa's books up between everyone. They both loved to read so there was tons of books and since everyone was there and together they figured it would be a good distraction for everyone. They put everyone's names in a hat and when your name got called you got to go pick out a book. After a long time of doing this and once everyone had there favorites they made it a free for all. The funny thing is once everyone was finished getting what they wanted there was still so many books that it looked like we didn't even do anything. I bet everybody took at least 10 books a person home. My grandma loved to collect Annalee dolls, so once the book thing was finished they let each of the grandkids pick out two Annalee dolls to take home with them. I loved this because this is one thing that totally reminds me of my Grandma and now I will have these to sit out every year at Christmas to remember her by. The next thing we did was divide up the ornaments on the tree so everybody would have a couple of ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas tree to hang on their own tree at home. It was so sad once all the Annalee dolls were gone and the ornaments were all off the tree. Everything suddenly felt very empty. I think that is when the reality of this being our last Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house set in. I will miss going going over there for Christmas dinner so much. By the time we were finished Christian was worn out from everything and ready to go home and go to bed.

Christmas With Jason's Parents

Our next stop for the day was to Jason's parents house for lunch and to open up more presents. We opened up presents first so the kids wouldn't have to wait. They all loved everything they got from everyone. We tried to get a picture of the three of them in front of the tree, but that is never an easy task to accomplish. Jason's parents got him a life vest for bow fishing and money for a bed liner for his truck that he was really excited and they got me a cheese ball tray, a Vera Bradley bag, along with some Vera Bradley accessories in my favorite print. I loved them all! We got Kenny a lantern for camping and a shirt and we got LeeAnn a gift certificate to JoAnn's so she can buy thread for her new embroidering machine. After we all finished opening up presents we ate a wonderful lunch of soups and sandwiches. LeeAnn fixed ham that was amazing. After we finished eating we hung out and let the kids play with all there new toys before we had to pack up and head to our next place.

Christmas With My Parents

Our first stop on Christmas morning was to my parents house for breakfast and to open up presents. They had a big breakfast spread of fruits, pastries, and a really good breakfast casserole. After we all finished eating Alisann and Justin had mom and dad open up part of there Christmas present from them. It was a picture of their new baby at the last ultrasound saying what they are going to have. They are going to have another boy! We were all really excited to find this out. After that we continued our tradition of lining up on the stairs oldest to youngest and walking down to the family room where all the presents are under the tree. The kids are all so much fun to watch opening all there presents. Mom and Dad got Jason and I a Play station 3 and a Wustoff cutlery set. Jason was really excited about the PS3 and I was so excited to be getting rid of our old knife set. All seven of us kids went in and got mom and dad a weekend getaway to The West Baden Resort in French Lick. They were really excited when they opened it up. My mom also surprised my dad with a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Shetler framed and matted with the Christmas card that Grandpa had planned to send out this year but never got to. My dad was really surprised and loved it. Mom also surprised all us kids with Grandpa's Christmas card and an ornament with a picture of our entire family including grandpa at the Evansville Country Club Christmas Brunch. I love it and will always treasure it. After everyone finished opening up all there presents we cleaned up the mess and headed to our next destination.