Christmas with Grammy and Papa-Part 2 (Christmas Eve)

 Call me impressed.  My dad called my sister to get a recipe from his great-grandmother for sugar cookies, mixed up the dough, rolled them out and cut cookie-cutter shapes with the kids.

 He made the icing, colored it four different colors and iced them all, with help.  :)

 Papa's project and gift to the family, from start to finish.  Aren't they lovely?

 Here we are getting together for breakfast on Christmas Eve.

 All four advent candles are lit.

 I had the girls help me make fruit candy canes.

 And we tried a new recipe for the main course.  These are Carmelized Ham and Swiss buns.  I think they were a hit.

 Cold, snowy day = fire in the stove.

 My Dad took all of the girls out to do some last-minute shopping (Which was fabulous, by the way.  We had a capable chauffeur, beautiful snow flurries, Christmas music playing and some hot coffee).  While at home, the boys went out in the woods with Dad.  They enjoyed climbing on some vines.

 The afternoon was spent cooking.  A special Christmas cake is getting started here.

 This is a joint effort to make scalloped potatoes.

 Dad's Almond Roca.

 Cal handled icing the cake.

 Millie handled decorating with peppermint pieces.

 Dinner is served.  Scalloped Potatoes and Ham.  We also served a layered green salad and some rolls.

 Time to read the Christmas Story from Luke.

 Christmas socks, for the girls.

 Christmas pajamas.

 Hurray for being together!

 Next, it was time to eat the beautiful cake.

 We had the pleasure of having an accompanist for a few Christmas carols.

 And here's a close-up of the cake, which was, in truth, out of this world.  My mom has a way with cooking and a way with cakes.  It's a rare treat for me to eat her yummy food!  What a fun and special day we had!