The ham that Kathy made for Christmas dinner (recipe below) was so tender, juicy, and flavorful that, when my brother and I went back to the kitchen for dessert, we changed our minds and decided to have more ham instead! It was ham-azing!

When everyone arrived for Christmas dinner (we celebrated early due to everyone's crazy schedules with in-laws), Kathy wanted to get a family photo with all of us in our Bear pajamas first (it's a tradition).

We said a prayer to give thanks and bless the food and then we filled our plates with amazing deliciousness!!


During dinner, Kathy shared a Christmas message about Christ and charity. Kathy's inspirational message reminded my nephew, Apollo, of a story that he heard about an old Priest who visited both Heaven and Hell. He explained that, at first, the old man was surprised that they both seemed very similar:

"They all have a dining hall with a big hot pot in the centre in which some delicious noodles are boiled, giving off an appetizing scent,” said the old priest. “The size of the pan and the number of people sitting around the pot are the same in these two places.”

“But oddly, each diner is given a pair of meter-long chopsticks and must use them to eat the noodles. And to eat the noodles, one must hold the chopsticks properly at their ends, no cheating is allowed,” the Priest explained.

“In the case of Hell, people are always starved because no matter how hard they try, they fail to get the noodles into their mouths,” said the old priest.

“But doesn't the same thing happen to the people in Heaven?” the junior questioned.

“No. They can eat because they each feed the person sitting opposite them at the table. You see, that is the difference between Heaven and Hell,” explained the old man.

Intrigued by the mental image that this story evoked in my head, I stood up from the table and ran off to get some meter-long chopsticks (I happened to have some drumsticks on hand from a Vistage conference that I went to last week). I handed them to Apollo and said "show me." 😁


Kathy made a delicious Raspberry Bread Pudding for dessert.

The dessert looked amazing...but, when I went back to the kitchen for some bread pudding, I decided to have more ham instead! My brother came up behind me and said "that ham is so good, I think I'm gonna have more of that for dessert instead!" I said "Me too!!"

My new son-in-law, Landon, asked Kathy "where did you get this ham from?" Kathy chuckled and said "Walmart. 😂"

We said "this really is the best ham we've ever eaten. What is the difference? How did you make this so yummy?"

She said "I cooked it in Dr. Pepper to tenderize it."

She is right! The recipe couldn't be simpler (click here to see it). If it wasn't so yummy, it almost wouldn't even be worth mentioning!

Relatively speaking, with only a couple side dishes (scalloped potatoes and Seven Layer Salad, this was one of the simpler meals that Kathy has made. But, boy was it yummy!

After dinner, we played some games.

For the first game, Kathy gave each couple a package of nylons, some balloons, and a Rudolph nose. We had to race to inflate the balloons, stuff them in the nylons, and put them on our heads to make Rudolph antlers.

Little Jules wasn't sure what to make of it. 😂

Brennah & Landon won.


Danny & Cecilia couldn't seem to get a single balloon into the panty hose. Carson & Caitlyn and Jackson & Kenzie came in close second.


My brother Brian, his son, and I were a team. Naturally, we lost (what do we know about pantyhose???) but we still managed to have fun. I texted this image to the extended family and said "Nice rack, Rudolph!" 😂😂😂

The next game that Kathy had for us was a challenge to see who could follow the commands and get the gift first.

Carson won the first round but he paid the price as he and Brennah bonked heads...


When Danny & Carson faced off, I whispered to Kathy "say Haka." So, she did. What a hoot!


The two undefeated kids (Carson and Cecilia) faced off in the championship. But, since Cecilia is pregnant, Kathy played a trick on Carson to give Cecilia an advantage. You gotta watch those girls...they're sneaky!!

NOTE: for some unknown reason, the audio is really poor in this video. Kathy says "Run, Jump, Carson..." and, when she says his name, Carson stops to look, Kathy says "Gift" and caught him off guard.


Finally, we played a game called If You Were that Kathy picked up on Amazon.

We had loads of fun playing this game but, I was so busy playing it instead of videoing it that I didn't capture the funnest moment. But, if you watch this quick snippet, you'll get the gist of it.


We exchanged family gifts and then had fun playing with the babies, visiting, and chatting.

Needless to say, we had a super wonderful family time. But, after everyone left, we went back into the kitchen to cleanup and saw this...

We forgot to decorate the Gingerbread houses!!

Kathy actually hot glued them the night before because nobody ever eats them and they're always falling apart. She had the candies and all the fixings to decorate them on the two large platters (pictured in the upper right corner). But, in all our festivities, we forgot! Ugh.

Then, I opened the fridge to put the leftovers away and saw two cartons of chocolate milk and two cartons of egg nog. We forgot to pull those out when we served dinner too! Doh! We're losing our edge!

Well, as you prepare to eat and gather with your family this holiday season, I hope that perhaps one of the recipes, photos, videos, or ideas in this article will inspire you. And, I hope your Cook'n Recipe App makes mealtime delicious and memorable. No matter how large or small your family, gather this Christmas and let everyone know how much you appreciate and love them; share Christ's love, and you will have a terrific time.

We hope your Christmas meals are wonderfully delicious. And, we hope your family gatherings are memorable and fun (and don't forget to decorate the Gingerbread houses and pull out the chocolate milk & egg nog!).

Merry Christmas!!!