Christmas extravaganza part 1

This year we celebrated with Josh's family early on Friday. We went to his dad and Cheryl's house. The kids were so excited to see their cousins, Blake and Carson.  Every year we do a cook-off with his family for dinner. Josh's family is really good at cooking so they get all competitive. This years theme was Caribbean. They all bring their best recipes and we vote. This year it was a close contest with Coconut Chicken, Mango Chutney Chicken, Jerk Chicken Pasta, Caribbean Pizza, Jerk Chicken Wings, Jerk Shrimp Shish kabobs, fresh fruit, Beef Patties, Jamaican Smiles. I can not even begin to explain how GOOD this all tasted. It was so hard to pick a first, second, and third place.

Full after a huge meal! 

Wendy and Ashley enjoying the food and jamaican smile. 

Nate and Jason eating all the food.

Grandpa John, Cheryl and Blake.

Buck clearing off his plate.

Cheryl, Linda, and Blake

We opened presents after dinner. They kids all get so excited when they see all the presents under the Christmas tree. I love seeing the joy of children at Christmas. They loved the outfits, tricycle, and all the goodies in the stockings! Josh and I got a storage ottoman for our living room. It will be great for storing all these new toys. :)

Caleb is ready to take the pics as the girls play the celebration music.

Marian and Grace

Family pic! - Mom, Caleb, Grace, Josh, and Kay.

Ashley and cousins, Carson and Caleb

Carson and Caleb helping open BLAKE's present- yep, not even there's

Cheryl and John opening their present with apt onlookers.

After we put the kids down for bed, we played Christmas minute to win it. Each couple had to bring a game to play. We were lucky no one picked the same game. The first two games were blowing games. Whew, we were all out of breathe half way through the first game so they second one killed us. They were really fun and it was so nice to have everyone playing together.

John and Cheryl balancing bolts.

Josh and Ashley transferring Christmas bulbs.

Trev and Marian trying to do the same- being pregnant doesn't help with air capacity!

Kory and Linda say bring it on!

Nate and Kaiti meeting in the middle.

Even Josh and I got in on the action.

Cheryl and John trying hard. ;)

Kory and Linda trying to put candy by a straw in bowls

Josh and Ashley's turn- separating colors is harder than you think when you're color blind!

Kaiti and Nate on a roll!

I did fine until they all make me start laughing!

Marian and Trev sucking straws.

On a roll!

Josh and Nate- getting a candy cane from your forehead into your mouth in a minute- harder than it looks!

While Trev got it first try in the practice round, in the real round none of them got it.

It ended with a bang as we announced the winners. The winner of the cook-off was .....Josh! Yes, my hubby's jerk chicken pasta got first place. It was kind of crazy because his sister, Kaiti, who did a caribbean shrimp pizza and Josh had a direct tie so we had to all vote again between just the two of them. Josh's dad won third with his shrimp and mango skewers. It was so hard to vote between them all. The couple who won the minute to win it games was ...... Josh and I!!!!!!  YAY!  We only won by 1 point! It was so much fun! :) We all went to bed tired after 1am,  but it was so much fun that it was well worth it. :)