The Big Christmas Tear Down

Today is the most dreaded of all days for me. I am beginning the process of de-Christmas-ing the house. I had a friend growing up who convinced her mom to leave their Christmas tree up every year until her birthday in February. Even as a kid I thought that was a little weird. Now I can kind of understand. I am posting some pre-take down pictures to document the many hours we've spent.

Today is the most dreaded of all days for me. I am beginning the process of de-Christmas-ing the house. I had a friend growing up who convinced her mom to leave their Christmas tree up every year until her birthday in February. Even as a kid I thought that was a little weird. Now I can kind of understand. I am posting some pre-take down pictures to document the many hours we've spent.

Ringing in the New Year

 

We had to finish out the year in a big way. Our friends the Greenes were in town from Arizona, so of course we had to have a party for them. We are still trying to convince them to come back! We had so so so much delicious food - thanks everyone! Then we entertained ourselves for hours with guitar hero and American Idol karaoke. We got everyone to sing -that means it was a REALLY good party!

Second Annual Christmas Shopping Trip

Here's a picture from what seems to have become our tradition. The Keeler family after Christmas shopping trip. Mimi and Grandad gave all the Keeler cousins real Visa cards this year. Owen got a new wallet for Christmas, when he opened it he said "When I grow up I'm going to get a credit card to put in this". You can imagine how proud we were! Well sure enough the next day, he got one. He promptly put it in his wallet. It was so funny to see him sign his name on the credit card receipt when he made his purchase! We met up at Fashion Valley and split up the boys going one way the girls another. It didn't take long for the girls to find some cute clothes at Abercrombie. The boys managed to spend theirs too. We finished up at the movies! What a fun day!

Christmas morning at the Keelers

 

Merry Christmas!

 

We've been to parties and eaten
and shopped til we're beaten
Wrapped gifts, gifts galore
and then wrapped some more
The beef was well roasted
to Christmas we toasted
We laughed and we sang
and Santa, he came!
Presents chosen with care
are now everywhere
Pollys, Cars and hoodies
and more Chrismtmas goodies
have brightened their eyes
though it's not a surprise
We'll make such sweet noise
with guitars, drums, karaoke toys
but now they are busy, toys in their lap
and finally, oh finally it's time for a nap!

A visit with the Big Guy

 

We went to our ward party and what do you know, out of all the thousands of Christmas parties being held that night, Santa came to ours! And can you believe that we were lucky enough to have our camera?! As you can tell by the picture, we were all happy to see him except for Owen. That might be because we have told him once or twice that Santa was going to assign him to the naughty list. According to Owen, kids on the naughty list get underwear for Christmas. Although he is working hard to get back on the nice list, Owen may not have felt confident about where he stands with the guy in red.

A welcome reminder

I just finished a wonderful book for my book club, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I read and loved the Kite Runner, so I knew this wasn't going to be a light read. Our book group wasn't sure about reading it for our December book because of the heavy subject matter. I am so glad we did. I think it was the perfect time to read it.

It's about two women living in Afghanistan and the hardships they endure. The thing that struck me the most was that the timeframe of their lifes was parallel to my own. When the Taliban moved in and forced women to wear burqas and forbade them from even leaving their homes without the company of a male relative, I was getting married. A woman had to give birth by C-section with out the use of sterile instruments or any kind of medication by a female surgeon wearing a burqa, at the same time I was having my first baby in a beautiful, fully equipped hospital. I thought I had a hard time!

I read most of the book on Saturday. Chris had taken the kids to Katie's baptism in Mission Viejo and I was home sick. I really got absorbed in it. I was at a point in the book where the family was so poor they were desperate for food and living in horrible conditions. I got up to get a drink and I was literally taken back by my surroundings and how lucky I was to be living in a such a nice home with so many food choices right in front of me. Things I take for granted every day! It also made me so thankful for my husband and the freedoms I enjoy in this country. People, we are so blessed!