He came! Santa really came!

Christmas day was wonderful with the children opening all their gifts and laughing with one another.  My big surprise was my table pad for the dining room table.  It was 2012 when I bought the table and I never got the pad for it.  John surprised me with an envelope that said it was ordered and would be in for pick-up in January.  I also got a huge box of Echo Park scrapbook kits and papers and an Amish fiction book from Lauren and new rubbed bronze register covers for all my register vents from Karina!  The girls and I all got new telephones and new long cords for our Apple devices, 2 Lands End tote bags and 2 pairs of slippers, and diamond cocktail rings.  Our entire family spent Christmas Day in our new Land's End jam-may pants and shirts from Southern Style On Fifth Avenue!  We had our traditional Cracker Barrel ham along with Papa's mashed potatoes, Ham gravy, creamed lima beans, corn, green bean casserole, a relish tray, stuffing balls, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls and cherry and pumpkin pie for dessert. Our chef Isabella enlisted the help of her cousin Caroline and Nana and baked 40 dozen cookies!  Her favorite is Lady Locks and we had many dozens of them!  You can see the lady locks recipe here.  They are delicious.  My favorite is the candy cane cookies sprinkled with crushed candy canes and sanding sugars.  Yum!  She also baked the cupcakes on the front of the December issue of Food Network Magazine.  Look at how beautiful they were!  We divided them in half and froze them without icing and enjoyed the other dozen on New Year's Day.