The Christmas Haul
Well, Christmas has come and gone once again. Since I’m writing this in the middle of January it’s easy to reflect on how, after all the anticipation that began sometime back in October, Christmas has been totally forgotten already. I guess it’s easy to just put last year behind you with the beginning of the new year.
Anyway… we had a great Christmas this year. We began our Christmas festivities with what is quickly becoming our own little yearly tradition. For the past couple years we’ve had both Emily’s and my parents out for dinner on Christmas eve to visit with the girls. Uncle Scott came too this year. We cooked up some yummy sweet’n'sour chicken and had some cheesecake and egg nog. The girls got to open a few presents and fun was had by all (I assume).
The next morning, after a quick check to make sure that Santa had eaten his cookies, the girls came out to tear into piles of presents. Hailey got some Hanna Montana stuff, Mallory got some High School Musical dolls, Annie got her very own rattle doll and Jack got some cars and trucks and his first Nerf football. Collectively they got some legos, a few games and a cool new picnic table from Grandma and Grandpa (which will be fun once the back yard is done). There was a lot more stuff, but those seemed to be the “important” items. Hailey was a little bummed that she didn’t get a Hanna Montana guitar but personally, I was rather relieved that Santa had decided not to bring that particular item. 
After we opened presents we headed out for the regular round of Christmas visiting. We started at the Laursens for Christmas morning eggs. We usually eat breakfast around 9 or so, but I always feel guilty about eating anything that will take up precious stomach space for Hawaiian pancakes. The eggs are good which makes it hard to keep from eating too much before we head out to Momo and Papa’s house.
After visiting with the Laursens for a bit, we headed up to the east side for a stop at Momo and Papa’s. This has been a regular Christmas day stop for me every year since I can remember and the reason it’s such an important part of Christmas (besides seeing all the Haymond clan) is the pancakes. Now, I’ll try to describe the phenomenon that is “Hawaiian Pancakes”, but until you’ve had one, you really can’t understand. Papa starts by adding crushed pineapple and marshmallows to the pancake batter. Then once the pancake is cooked and the marshmallows are all melted, you then continue by smothering the pancake with powdered sugar, sliced bananas, melted butter and cinnamon. It sounds strange, I know… but once you’ve had one you’ll wonder why IHOP doesn’t have it on the menu. They’re freakin AWESOME!!!
After the pancake pitstop we ventured over to my Grandma Smith’s house for some afternoon snacks and some more presents. It’s always fun to watch the Smith clan get all excited about presents because they tend to “squeal” a bit. We hung out there for a bit then it was time to head home. It was late by the time we arrived and we all wanted to go straight to be. But everyone agreed that it was a good Christmas.
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