Merry Country Christmas

Good Morning friends 🙂

Yesterday Hub’s and I arrived safely in Memphis, Tennessee. But before we left we celebrated a Merry Country Christmas with all of our friends and family in California! 

I love that our theme was so fun! I got to set up  little Country display on our front porch to welcome of our guests 🙂

I purchased most of this stuff at the goodwill for under $15.

As you walked in you were greeted with a table of some of the appetizers and desserts 🙂 Everyone brought something, so throughout the night the food grew BIGGER AND BIGGER!

Our bar with festive drinks.

I made an easy Holiday non-alcoholic punch.

• One liter bottle of 7up
• 1 bottle of Cranberry Juice
• Couple scoops of frozen sherbet.

OH MY SO YUMMY 🙂 It was a big hit with all the kids and parents!

More Christmas “Spirit”.

Eggnog

 

Then our treat 🙂 Hubby I bought some of the best Holiday wine when we were in Monterey this past summer. It is for mulling. It came with a packet of spices that you add into a Crockpot while the wine is heated. We have been waiting for months to try it! 

Chaucers Mead 🙂 There were more drinks (soda and water) in the garage I forgot to snap a pic.

We also had a chili bar for people to eat some “real” food.

I made 3 Crock-pots full of the most hearty turkey chili. There wasn’t an ounce left over.

Mini Cornbread Muffins (I just used the 2 Jiffy Cornbread mix boxes and added a can of corn to it).

A Harvest Salad.

• Mixed Greens
• 1 1/2 cups of dried cranberries
• 6 gala apples chopped
• 1 cup of pecans
• Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar

 

Along with some Cooking Light Baked Mac and Cheese!!!

 

I was so happy my brother Chris was there. He is the one that was in the car incident awhile back. I am so blessed to have him here 🙂 Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

 

One of the biggest hits was the cheese and meat platter. Thank you to the people at Hickory Farms for the sample box via Foodbuzz tastemaster program. My guests devoured the entire tray!!!

 

SO MUCH FOOD!!! I actually didn’t have much, because I was running around trying to make sure everyone was taken care of, being the host is one busy job. Which is a good thing, because I am sure I would have eaten my weight in the cheese dip and little smokies.

Look who came 🙂

Are these not the cutest little boots you have ever seen? I loved how festive everyone was!

We also had seating out in the garage. Yep we had hay barrel seating.

My nieces loved the table in a bag 🙂 I love putting this out at family parties, it’s just their size.  I got the two green chairs at Lowe’s this summer.

 

Ping Pong tournaments went on ALL NIGHT!

For the kids I set up a Cookie Decorating Table I had sugar cookies, frosting, and sprinkles for them to decorate. I wish I could have taken a pic of all the cookies they decorated, they turned out SOOOOO CUTE!!!

My cowboy nephew Tyler.

My cowgirl niece Breanna 🙂

They all really got into it!

I loved seeing all my friends and family gathered around. 

Throughout the night I had some mulled cider and…

a few sips of a festive beer. I set it down somewhere that night and never found it again 🙁

Later in the evening we busted out the ROCK BAND! I bought Hubby the Country Rock Band for Christmas and we just had to test it out 🙂

It was hard to take a good pic without the flash. I love that D is holding little E and singing all at the same time.

Our little Drummer Boy Moses 🙂

About half way into the party I put the camera down and just enjoyed everyone’s company. Sometimes you just have to sit down and RELAX! There were over 60 people that came and I had to make my rounds 😉

This was the best party we have ever had at our house. Hubby and I truly felt the spirit of Christmas, we got to hang out with all the people we love and celebrated as a true family.

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Full recap our our first day in the south to come soon……