Christmas Eve - Dinner

A few years ago Mom H. started the tradition of a Christmas Eve dinner that includes dishes that Jesus may have eaten (things such as nuts, dates, fish, bread, ethnic/cultural food, etc.). Because most of the members of the family have spent time in Saudi Arabia, the middle eastern dishes are also family favorites.

As something fun and to add to the spirit of the meal, I actually made baklava for the first time today. It turned out pretty good. :) I didn't get any pictures of it though. :/

Here are a few pictures of some of the scrumptious food we ate tonight:

Asparagus



Tabouli (Kent actually made this. :))



Spanakopita



Pita Bread



Humus



Sauteed Onions



Mujadara





It was a super tasty meal with layers of significance to those of us who ate it.

Christmas Eve - Gingerbread Houses

A few years ago Mom H. started the tradition of making gingerbread houses with the grand-kids so this afternoon those that could, got together for construction fun.

This year it was the boys against the girls. The boys got a train and the girls got a house to put together. (Luke isn't a grandchild but he gets to participate anyway. :))







Kent III came over to check out the girls' progress...



...and decided to stay and help decorate the house. :)





Then Sean showed up and got in on the action!



The finished projects with the construction crews.
Left to right: Savannah, Kent III, Amber, Samantha, Sean, Luke and Justin.



And then the best part of the project...eating it! :)



Kent III decided piecemeal wasn't good enough and took the entire train roof to eat. :)





Thank you Grandma for another fun, successful engineering project!

Christmas Eve - Breakfast

Because we have to drop off the girls to their other house at 10:00 am on Christmas Day we took my parents out to breakfast this morning so they would get to spend a little bit of time with their granddaughters during the holiday.

While at breakfast Grandparents and grand-kids traded gifts. For Grandpa and Grandma a little something and gift cards to their favorite stores.



New jammies, a yearly tradition from Grandma.





A fun craft for Samantha.



A watch for Savannah.



And the prèsènt de résistance...a complete collection of the new commemorative State Quarters...a present years in the making!



A fun morning spent eating tasty crepes and having fun with grandparents!

A 3rd for Kent III

Today was Kent III's 3rd birthday. We opted not to celebrate with the Hinkson's tonight because his sisters weren't with us, however, I snapped a few pictures of him just to have some on his actual birthday and thought I would share. :)







Happy Birthday little man!

Hinkson December Birthday Party

Tonight we went over to Mom and Dad H.'s to celebrate Mom and James' birthdays.

Tallie and Nick setting up the Little People nativity collection set most of us went in on for Mom.



Make-shift wrapping paper, complete with a bow. :)



Singing happy birthday (with some fun facial expressions). :) Tallie and Nick were definitely the stars of the song hence the huge smiles on most of the faces. :) You really had to be there to hear it and appreciate it. :)







A beautiful sweater from Ralph and Julie.



James got some nice sweaters...all of them striped. Guess he had fashion theme for this birthday. :)





Time for the big unveiling...it seemed to be a big hit with Grandma and the grandkids. :) (Great job again Tallie for coming up with such a great gift idea!)





A shirt, a scarf and some Christmas earrings from Dad.





For some reason I did not get any pictures of the tasty food...how unlike me! :) Anyway... :)

It was a very fun evening spent with family. :)

Happy Birthday Mom and James!