On December 19th, Mike and I went to visit his family in the Twin Falls/Filer area of Idaho. The ride to Twin was completely uneventful, which was good considering there was a ton of snow. Our first stop was at Mike's brother's house. Mike's mom lives in an attached apartment to Steve's house so we were able to see her as well. Mike's brother offered me a miniature pincher while I was there, but no luck for me, I came home without him.
After visiting with Mike's mom and brother we drove to his sister Chrissy's house. I love staying at Chrissy's house. We chatted with everyone and got settled then the girls, Meghan and Amanda, and I headed to Winco for some last minute grocery shopping. The girls and I had an interesting time driving into town because it was snowing, the ground was covered with horrible snow and ice and out where they live there are hardly any street lights. We made it home and I got to work on a Devil's Food cake that I was planning on serving for dessert.
On Sunday the family got up and went to church leaving me at home to prep for the dinner I was going to make later that evening. 
Tyler with his "do" for church
I did have a partner helping me get things ready.
This is Sprite. She is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever with a heart of gold. She is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met. The menu for dinner included turkey, ham, stuffing, sauteed vegetables, stuffed mushrooms, Brie en croute, mashed potatoes and a variety of pies and chocolate. To get everything ready I assembled the stuffed mushrooms and brie en croute because they would have to hit the oven and be done before I could start the turkey. In years past I have made stuffed mushrooms and they are a hit with the Holley crowd, so this year I made sure that we would have enough for everyone to have more than a couple. This tray only shows a small portion of the mushrooms that I made. Keep in mind I am making a meal for 22+ people.
This is the Brie en Croute before it was baked in the oven. It was stuffed with dried cherries, rosemary and pecans. After I pulled them out I realized I forgot one of the the ingredients, honey. These came out so well they will definitely make another appearance at another party.
Around 5 o'clock everyone started showing up. Everyone snacked on appetizers and enjoyed holiday beverages. Mike's mom enjoyed the Bailey's and coffee. Marge, is such a great lady. She is so funny and always makes sure holidays are fun. She set up a great white elephant game with fun gifts for everyone.
This is Mike's dad, Bill, and his sister Chrissy. It was really great to see Bill. I was bummed because his wife Lou wasn't feeling well so she wasn't able to make it over for the festivities.
While I finished up dinner everyone sat around the kitchen and we all caught up on the comings and goings of our families.
Me finishing up the vegetables
Don & Marge
Once dinner was all ready the kids were wrangled in to eat. The adults scattered around the kitchen and we all began to enjoy our meal.
After dinner it was time for presents. After all the paper was done flying we gathered the kids for a photo. This isn't all of them though. We were missing Chase, and Mike's sister's, Annette, family.
We had a great time visiting with everyone. On Tuesday we headed back home, picked up our pups and got ready for the rest of the week. On Christmas eve I made my first Prime Rib with a port/balsamic reduction. It turned out beautifully and I had to hold Mike off from eating the whole thing (he loves red meat!). I worked on Christmas and after work went to Susie and Wayne's house for a later dinner. Now that Christmas is over it's time to SKI!
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