Christmas 2012 with Deedra's Fam

We enjoyed the last few days celebrating Christmas with Deedra's family.  It was a fun, relaxing time with lots of eating, enjoying Christmas Eve candlelight services, games, sledding and more eating...

 

 It was a joy to have everyone together on Christmas Eve.  It was especially fun for us to witness Kale having a blast with his cousins as they danced and played with flashlights in the dark.  His giggles were audible from the basement, making us all giggle.

 Our traditional hot dog roast continued with Gramps at the helm!  Much later in the evening as "Scrooge" played in the background, Kesha, Dana and Deedra found themselves cozy by the fireplace and chatting until the yawns grew too big.

 Christmas morning brought gift opening followed by a big breakfast.

 To add to Kale's musical magic, he received a microphone.

 And each of us received gifts made by Deedra's parents.  Gramps made Kale ornaments for his tree in his room including a basketball and guitars.  They are absolutely perfect! 

And for Justin, Gramps made a little seat for him to sit on to put his shoes on.  Justin has been wanting one for years as it is a small space by our garage door that needed something pretty customized.  Again, it is perfect!

 

 And for Deedra, her mom made her a Christmas quilt.  They had been shopping together a few years ago when Deedra had seen it in a quilting store and thought it was really neat.  What a surprise for Deedra!  Her mom has been working on this on and off since January.  So beautiful!

We arrived back to our own home tonight.  We unloaded the car, unpacked, put away, started laundry, got dinner going for us and to deliver to our elderly neighbors, began repacking, got Kale into the shower and are tying up loose ends before we travel again to celebrate with Justin's family.  Our life is full and good.  Our God continues to bless and spur us on.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!  Thank you for Christmas.

Our Little Family Christmas 2012

We celebrated our little family Christmas Eve last night with a homemade pizza (a meal the three of us can actually eat together and enjoy) picnic on the living room floor.

 After putting Kale to bed, Justin and I enjoyed the movie "Christmas Vacation".  "Why's the carpet wet, Todd?"  "I don't know, Margo!"  "That there's an RV!"  "I gotta eat so I can take my back pill!"  Okay...I'm done with the movie quotes!  HA!

This morning we celebrated Christmas.  We greeted Kale in his room with our "sparkle box".  We learned about a sparkle box in a book we read from the library.  We filled it with gifts for Jesus...slips of paper noting things we did throughout the Christmas season that showed love and service to others.

 Kale was anxious to see the slips and he joyfully said "It's Jesus' birthday!"  Well, we are a few days off but he gets the idea.

 

The favorite gift of Kale was none other than a toy guitar I'd found at a second hand store for $6.50.  He has been asking for a "guitar with strings" for Christmas.  For those of you who don't know Kale well, he loves all things music including guitars, drums, and microphones.  The boy was so excited to see it under the tree and had a hard time putting it down all day.  In fact, he cried tonight when we told him he couldn't have it in his room with him.  We assured him the guitar needed rest and would rest on the toy porch downstairs.

 Notice how he puts his knee out and foot up to "prop the guitar up."  Not sure where he's seen that but he's always done it!

 The mass you see below him is a new puppy.  I was asking Kale what he wanted to name his new puppy.  I explained that just like Cedar is a puppy/dog and has the name Cedar, his new puppy needed a name.  He thought for just a moment and then said "Joseph."  Guess that's fitting for this time of year!  (We did let Kale take Joseph to bed!)

And for your viewing pleasure, the first of many music videos (we are sure) by our little musician.

Looking forward to more Christmas fun with our families in the coming days!