Christmas Eve With The Snyders

Christmas Eve. The Snyder celebration.





It is tradition. And has been held at our home for the last couple of years.





And I love every second of it.





And here is your one chance to actually see a picture of one of our Christmas trees. The Lodge tree....






For the Snyders' Christmas, every adult brings a gift. Then we draw numbers and choose gifts in order.



And some times fight for gifts. Because it is allowed. And makes for a fun game.



Kev's cousin Bill and his wife Phyllis.....




Kev's Aunt Kim and Bill's daughter Courtney....

Kev's sister Jenn and girlfriend Mona...
(with sweet Jayden talking to Glenn in the background)

Bill opening a gift....

Kev's Aunt Heidi opening a gift....

We gave Mary and Glenn (Kev's parents) a Wii.....

There were MANY more family members at this celebration.... but apparently unless you got up in front of every one to open a gift.... you weren't photographed. It is the way I roll. Not to mention that throughout the holiday season I seemed to "forget" to take pictures.

Just wait until you see my family's Christmas recap.

Anyway.... I had a blast making food for this event. I happened to be off of work on Christmas Eve and was able to cook and bake the day away. And it was one of the best Christmas gifts I received.

Time in the kitchen.

Just in case you were wondering..... I made sugar cookies, wedding cookies, oreo/white chocolate bark, spinach dip, Aunt Kay's tomato basil sandwiches (yes, they are my favorites and I make them for EVERYTHING -thanks Angela), pimento cheese, orange marmalade muffins with ham, and "Moonshine" Sangria.

Oh... and sausage balls. Except for Kev made the sausage balls because I ran out of time. And may or may not have had a melt down. (Which is normal for me when planning a party) And let me just tell you that they were the best darn sausage balls I've ever had. I just threw the ingredients in a bowl and let Kev do the rest.

And he should change his profession to "Sausage Ball King". Seriously.

I believe part of the secret is to add EXTRA cheese because you don't feel like measuring and then they are more like cheese biscuits with a touch of sausage instead of the other way around. The other part of the secret is to have Kev make them.

Every one else brought delicious treats too. Which made for a great food experience. My favorite kind of experience.

Aunt Kim even made a collard dip. Which is almost like spinach dip but with collards and Worcestershire sauce. It was so different and divine. And I've never had collards before.

Ultimately, we had SO much fun!! And it was definitely a great way to start the celebration of Christmas!


And to think just hours before this amazing event... my kitchen looked like this.....