christmas...aftermath

As a child, I remember loving the hours after the Christmas gifts had been opening and the paper cleared away. Everyone's gifts would be in a little pile by their stocking, the house quiet as Mom and Dad drank coffee and my brothers and I played with our new toys. When we were little we only had a few of these magical hours since there were grandparents' houses to go to and ham to be eaten. Not at our house. We stayed in our pj's all day, made a turkey dinner (eaten in our pajamas) and played to our hearts content (children and adults).

I love Josie's expression as she tries to fit in one last Lego.

My new running shoes from Santa.

Charging the Garmin.

Ellie's Barbie – must have been a rough night.
(She's a tad disheveled, and what's with
the Ken doll, naked in the background?)

christmas..."we're going to disney!"

After all the gifts had been unwrapped, Kyle and I excused ourselves to get "one last present'. Once upstairs, the two of us looked at each other with tears in our eyes. Finally, the time had come to tell the girls about Disney. Kyle grabbed the two dress boxes and I grabbed the framed "invitation" we made to tell the girls about the princess breakfast we'd planned. Back downstairs we went, almost unable to contain our excitement.

Now...Kyle's dad spent the holiday with us, so we had him record video of Ellie and Josie opening the dresses (excitement), and Ellie reading the invitation (you could hear crickets chirping). There - was - not - a - single - reaction - from - either - one - of - them. Nothing. Nada. Zip. We explained it further, perhaps the invitation was a little hard to understand? "We're going to Disney World!" Still no reaction. "Oh." Ellie said. "I thought we had to be seven and five."

The invitation.

My parents showed up 30 minutes later, and by then Ellie and Josie were excited about the upcoming trip. I think it will sink in once we're on the plane, or standing in front of Cinderella's castle. Despite the lack of bursting excitement from our children, Kyle and I are still counting down the days until we leave...just 12.

christmas...an exciting morning!

Kyle and I were awake by 7:30am Christmas morning, waiting impatiently patiently for our girls to run in yelling "Santa came!". Finally, at 8:00am, Ellie shuffled in, letter from Santa in hand. It wasn't long before Josie joined us and we all walked downstairs to see what was left under our tree.

Thanking Grandpa Kirker for a digital camera.

I love how, even at age 4, she's using her feet to open gifts.

Grandpa, trying out Kyle's new binoculars.

On Josie's wish list – Wuggle Pets

On Ellie's wish list – a new Barbie doll

The one and only picture of me from Christmas.
(Showing off the Garmin watch that Kyle gave me.)

So excited about their new suitcases!

Tomorrow...the big Disney "reveal".

christmas...the wee hours

Ellie and Josie must have been good.

christmas...'twas the night before

Saturday evening we went to my Uncle Denny and Aunt Luann's annual Christmas Eve party. We ate too much, laughed a lot and visited with friends and family we only see a few times a year. By 9pm the girls were beyond tired, so we packed them up and headed home.

There's only 1.75 miles between our house and Uncle Denny's, but we took the "long" way and showed the girls some of the Christmas lights sprinkled around our country "neighborhood". We were home by 10pm, dressed in our new pj's that Grandma Payne made, cookies, milk and carrots out for the visitor we were all expecting Saturday night.

christmas...at grandpa & grandma payne's

Friday night was spent at my parents' house with my brothers and their families. We all live fairly close to one another, but getting all of us together under one roof is sometimes a challenge.

Eleanor, Jacob, Lindsey and Dana

My brothers Ben and Mike.
(Hey...he made the face...I'm free to post it.)

Two of our nieces – Lindsey and Natalie

My brother Phil, tying our nephews Simon and Jake
together in their new sleeping bags.

Ellie, thanking my grandmother for a gift.

Josie with my mom and dad's cat, Max.
(Josie and I decided he needed to wear a dress.)

merry christmas and happy birthday

Circa 1970-something

Every time I see this photo, it cracks me up. It's Kyle (on the right) and his brother Chris with Santa. They look so cute, innocent, and festive. All except the revolver that Chris has pointed at his brother.

First of all, Merry Christmas! Our day was full of happy faces, shouts of joy, and a few words out of our children's mouths that made us laugh. One of which, was Josie, after unwrapping two books in a row, was given a box and said, straight-faced with a sigh "I hope this isn't a really thick book." I have so many photos to share, and plan on doing that throughout the week.

Second, Happy Birthday to my husband!

He's 40 today, and seriously getting better with age. Happy 4-0 Hot Stuff!

Merry Christmas!

From the Kirker family to yours –
have a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

congratulations aunt amy

Last weekend we travelled to Southfield to help my sister-in-law celebrate her graduation from college. We hadn't seen Chris and Amy in a few months and were so happy to get to spend our Saturday afternoon eating and visiting with family and friends.

Allison seeing Ellie for the first time that day.

Seeing Josie and wanting a hug.

Grandpa Kirker and his girls.

The graduate!

Kyle with his brother Chris and his dad.

Allison with her daddy – it was a long day!

Ready to go!

Aunt Amy helping Ellie float.

Ellie, passing on her new knowledge.

Josie - always the bathing beauty.

Allison and Josie - fun near the jacuzzi.

The guys really look like they're
paying attention, don't they!

Cannonball!!

2011 Holiday Gift Idea #6

I forgot to take a picture,
so I had to fake one.

2011 Holiday Gift Idea #6 - Chocolate Fudge Sauce (or Raspberry Fudge Sauce)

It's not too late to make something for the book group, mailman, coffee club. The ingredients are pretty simple. the directions very simple, and I've even included two download able PDF files that you can print and glue to your jars.

For the jars you'll need:
1 printed PDF  (Chocolate Sauce or Raspberry Sauce)
3-6 pint-sized jars with lids
Small piece of wrapping or scrapbook paper

For the fudge sauce you'll need:
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
12 oz. of high-quality dark chocolate (either chips, or chopped)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or raspberry liquor (Chambord)

Directions
In a medium saucepan, over low/medium heat, heavy cream and corn syrup. Cook until bubbles barely break the surface. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and either vanilla or liquor and whisk until melted. Allow to cool slightly before pouring into glass pint jars. Allow to cool completely before refrigerating. This will keep in the fridge for a few months. To reheat, place in a shallow pan of water and simmer until melted, or microwave for 30-40 seconds or until melted.

one down, one to go

Yesterday I sewed from 8:00am until 11:20pm. The machine work is finished on both dresses, the hand sewing is finished on Eleanor's, Josephine's will take a couple of hours more – something I can do while watching TV sometime in the next few days.

I woke up this morning with a giant weight off my shoulders. Now I can focus on a huge work project that needs to be completed before Christmas. Oh...and I have to clean the entire house at some point, tonight I'm Christmas shopping with my Dad, Wednesday after work Kyle and I are picking his dad up from the airport, Thursday I have to work all day, Friday is Christmas at my parents and Saturday is Christmas Eve. Yeah...I'll get it done while I'm lazily watching TV one of these days. Jokes on me!

(Really. Don't feel bad for me. I thrive under pressure.)

sunday photo

A Santa mug makes spiked
cocoa look so very innocent.

it's beginning to feel a lot like...

...Christmas. 

Until a few days ago I'd had have said "the middle of September". There isn't a flake of snow on the ground. These dresses are putting me less in the holiday spirit and more in the "holy crap I have 12...11...10...9 days until these things have to be wrapped and under the tree" spirit. Bah humbug.

Thankfully, we have two little girls that make it impossible to forget what is just eight days away. Each morning they run into our room with the new location of our Elf on the Shelf. Most of the day we listen to Christmas carols – I've heard Ellie's rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" numerous times. Our days finish with one of our Christmas books, our favorite The Spirit of Christmas by Nancy Tillman. The air is thick with Christmas Spirit. Kyle and I have discussed how this is the first of the three or four Christmas' we'll get with both girls anticipating the morning of December 25th with pure, innocent, electric excitement.

It's truly magical, and I promise, we're cherishing every...last...second.

(If only it would snow.)

tree decorating

Josie has her own way of decorating the tree.

{step one}

Spend all afternoon coloring.

{step two}

All afternoon.

{step three}

Seriously.

{step four}

Hang your artwork on the branches.
Beautiful!

thanks, elf on the shelf

We have an Elf on the Shelf. I must say, I really wish he could stay around all year. This is the type of behavior we see quite often these days...

concert

I know I'm supposed to have a fantastic Christmas gift idea today, but when I tried to link to the product online, it was "no longer available". Apparently a lot of other people thought it was a great idea too.


So...instead I'm going to share photos from Josie's performance at the Christmas concert last night. I remember Ellie doing this in 2009. I must say, they are equally delightful bell ringers!

Blowing us a kiss on the way in.

I think she's getting tired!

Our niece, Natalie.