Sunshine and scribbles: Our December

Yesterday, we arrived back home from the last of our holiday adventures. We shared one long exhale. As we were driving, I was counting all the events we've had over the last six weeks (since Thanksgiving). We've been to Boise twice, to Logan twice, had two Christmas parties, a school program, had Jared's parents here for a weekend while we went to the Black Swan for our anniversary, Christmas-shopped for three different needy families, in addition to our own Christmas shopping (which I didn't even start until December 9th), had my parents here for Christmas, and then off to Logan again for a few days to ring in the new year. I have been draggggggging the last week or so. In addition to all the junk food I've eaten that I shouldn't have, once I started to recall all of the comings and goings, it's no wonder this anti-social homebody is ready to peace-out for a good three months. This year was way too busy for me, and in some ways unnecessarily so. We will definitely be doing things differently next year, even though that means we will have to say 'no' to several things. There's certainly a way to make the season sweet and memorable, without overdoing it and leaving little time and energy for creating lasting memories.

At the end of November, we enjoyed a few short days at my parents' for Thanksgiving. It was a super quick trip, but the boys enjoyed being there, nonetheless. Dinner was delicious, and I had a fun time setting the table. We also got to spend an evening at Kricket and Michael's. The boys are always spoiled when we go there! They came back with lots of fun little toys. I took pictures, but somehow managed to erase my sd card before downloading them to the computer.

We came home from that trip and had to have our chimney repaired. The guy was so sweet and we really enjoyed having him in our home. He helped us remove the large old wood stove and showed us how to use our open face fireplace. I was so excited to find that everything was in tact as far as that goes. It was pure bliss burning our first fire in our new home (just in time for our first snow storm!). We have missed having fires so much! It was such a blessing to be able to have everything work properly and be all set up for the winter. The next day, we picked out a Christmas tree. We brought it home, and set it all up. And then it fell down! Danny was so mad about it happening! He wanted to burn the tree down! Haha! We secured it again, and we were good to go. Every year, Mr. Keller dreads fixing the tree in the tree stand. He huffs and puffs and swears. It's becoming hysterical to me, as I've come to expect each year. He hates it so badly! Especially because it's never straight until like the fifth try, and the stand we have is such a pain! Maybe one of these years, I'll buy a new one so we can avoid the hassle.

That week, we decorated the tree, had a church Christmas party, had a school gingerbread-making party, and then Mr. Keller had a business trip to Arizona for the week. My mom came and stayed a night and then took us back to Boise for a few days. It was so sweet of her to be willing to do that. I get so anxious about driving the stretch by myself. We stopped by Grandma Glenna's for a few hours and visited with her. I asked her all about her childhood Christmas memories. The boys enjoyed all the candy she gave (as always), and they had fun playing with her toys. We did some shopping when we got into Boise, including Kohls, which we shopped at until midnight, and then realized our coupons didn't work until the next day. They put all of our things on hold until the next day, then we had to make another trip into Boise to buy it and pick it all up. I did a lot of online shopping while I was in Boise, as well. Almost all of my Christmas was done on Amazon and ebay, which was so nice. I got used to seeing the mailman each and every day almost all through Decemeber, bless his heart. Our trip to Boise was so cozy and relaxing. Papa built us lots of warm fires. We made gingerbread houses with Jennica and her little girls, and the boys enjoyed reading with grandma in bed, and running wild for days on end. We were sad to have to go home, but we sure missed our daddy, and I was anxious to settle in at home, and finish up decorating for Christmas.

That weekend, we hiked up the mountain near our home and cut down our second Christmas tree for our home. Before we left the truck to go on the hike, I told Mr. Keller I didn't think he needed to bring the chainsaw, and that I thought we could just use the handsaw. We ended up hiking at least one mile (and he carried the chainsaw the whole way!). The day was actually pretty warm, even though we were hiking through snow. It was a perfect afternoon. We enjoyed the outside air. We finally spotted our tree and it took a good five or ten minutes to cut it down with the chainsaw! I was so glad he didn't listen to me! It was a huge tree! It took a long time, and several breaks to get it down the hill (since he also had the chainsaw to carry, too). He had a good time though. He really did. I was wondering if at the end, he'd decide we weren't going to do that again in the future, but he mentioned several times what a good day it was, and he was looking forward to next year. Mr. Keller is a sentimental old fool at Christmas time.

The following week, Mr. Keller had his parents come up to watch the boys while we went for a night out for our anniversary at the Black Swan. This really deserves its own post, as we celebrated our tenth year! It was such a special gesture (he surprised me earlier with the stay). He booked the same room we stayed at on our wedding night. He jokingly said he was planning on taking me to New Hong Kong, since that's where we ate at on our wedding night (student budget!). I don't think we've eaten there for at least eight years! We went to someplace we hadn't been before, instead. We went to the Bridge and it was so delicious! It was snowing such pretty snow, that night. It was so sweet and romantic. We had such a wonderful time. Ten years! My heart. The next day, we slept in and watched Hallmark Christmas movies. We did some Christmas shopping and went to lunch, then went back home. We played with grandma and papa for the next day or so. Games, and out to dinner. And after they went home, we got another babysitter and went out to Star Wars. I was dying to see it (since we're too old to go to midnight premieres anymore). It was so good. So good that I've seen it three times (and counting). It's always an adventure to go opening weekend to majorly-anticipated movies with lots of fans. There was so much cheering and clapping and laughing. I love sharing that with others who loves something like you do. Morgan was so anxious to see it, but we had to see it first to make sure it was okay. It was nice to know the few parts where we hid little eyes, when we took them to it a few days later. They were so so so excited! They wore their capes and brought their sabers.

That was the kick-off to Christmas break. Lots of fun was had over the new few weeks!!! Lots of memories made. We had a few playdates with friends, lots of treat-eating and family dates. I took Morgan to Star Wars (again) and to Panda Express on a little mommy-son date, and then Danny to Kiwi Loco. We played many, many games, watched a lot of movies, listened to hours and hours of Christmas music. We wrote to Santa Claus, and sat on his lap. We read lots of Christmas books (and added a few to our Christmas collection). Mr. Keller and I watched all three extended editions of Lord of the Rings (watching here and there in the evenings ---this took almost all of December to get through!). The boys took their annual Christmas shopping trip with me where they get to pick their present to each other, and their presents for daddy. This year they picked Jurrassic World tiny cars and Kylo Ren slippers. Morgan literally took a half hour walking around the store trying to decide if he should get Kylo Ren slippers or Darth Vader ones. He couldn't choose. And he didn't know which ones daddy would like best. He is so thoughtful! And daddy loved the presents when he opened them. He also made two ornaments at school and gave them to us. They are so cute!

We also went on a few family dates over the break as well. Out to dinner a few times, shopping, and to Costco. The boys got to pick out a family treat to share (a tradition Mr. Keller has carried on from when he was little). Morgan picked shrimp and Danny picked 'mosserelli' (mozzarella) sticks. We had several fun nights of treat-eating, and hot cocoa drinking and candy-canes by the fire.

The next week was the week of Christmas! We spent a few crazy days of preparing the house for papa and grandma to come for the big day! I wrapped presents for hours and hours, it seemed. With Mr. Keller being EQ president for the church, we had a lot of extra Christmas tasks this year. It was nice to have the boys be able to recognize and help others in need. The week of Christmas, we had several people in the ward drop off items to contribute to this, and then both Morgan and Danny went to their room and each picked out one of their favorite things to give. Even though I ended up not including these things (as they were used), I graciously accepted their sweet and fervent contributions.

Whew -- December! I'll pick up with Christmas Eve and on next post!

Here's our month in pictures!

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Picking out of first tree!

Getting our Christmas bins out! Something the boys look forward to all year long. So much fun to see all of our Christmas treasures after they've been packed away for a whole year!

Danny and I had a quiet morning one day while Morgan was at school. He loved hanging the ornaments. It was so cute!

A few days later, he asked why we didn't have a star on our tree like all the other people. Haha! My poor children, and my unconventional ways. Our trees are always so simple each year. I went out and found a white star though. Just for my Danny boy. He loved putting it right on top!

Snow day!

Fire-building with daddy.

Our mountain-hike to find our tree!

Our tree we cut down -- all lit up! New Christmas jammies and hot cocoa before bedtime.

So much snow this month! Lots of playing outside! Rosy cheeks and everything!

Look closely and you'll see Danny wrapped himself in a blanket and put himself under the tree. He was pretending to be a present!

Danny had a major obsession with Mister Grinch this year. He watched the movies so many times I lost count, and memorized the words to the song. Grandma found him some green fuzzy gloves for his "Grinch fingers", and I ordered him a cute Grinch sweater online. This is him opening up the sweater! He wore that thing day after day after day. He wants to be Grinch for Halloween next year!

Wrapping presents with the Grinch.

Playing Mister Grinch (with Morgan as Max, the dog!) Notice he even has a whip in his hand like the Grinch does in the movie! Lolol

Dear Santa: I would like a toy combine, and a tractor lego book, and a fart blaster. (Not a real combine like I used to want!) Love Danny

Dear Santa: I want star wars figures and angry birds. Love Morgan

Dropping our letters off at the Santa mailbox at the post office.

Morgan was there, as well, but he threw a royal fit when he Danny threw the letters in the mailbox before Morgan got a change to help him.

(Also, the Mr. Grinch sweater!)

On our anniversary, Mr. Keller surprised me with this gorgeous ring. He and the boys picked it out together a few weeks before. I can't believe they all kept such a secret for that long. It was a very special weekend.

I surprised Mr. Keller by ordering from ebay the Christmas dishes the Kellers grew up with. I found a full boxed set of them in their original box (never even used) from 1995. Grandma and papa still use these each and every Christmas. We are excited to have our own we can use each year now too.

Playing games after church one day!

Our front door

Cozy fires!

The church Christmas party!

Playing in the playroom one afternoon. I was looking at this picture, and noticed how many toys in the this photo are from Christmases past. The shopping cart was from Morgan's second Christmas, the piano was also one year. Santa brought the fisher price service station last year. It makes me super sentimental!

The day we went to Star Wars together as a family!

Only a few presents were casualties of early-opener Danny. My mom brought all of their presents to us in the early part of December, so there were days and days of temptation! One afternoon, Danny came to me and said, "Mom, this present has a rip. And I think it's a bow!" Hahaha! I went ahead and let him open it. It was from papa Bruce. Morgan got one too. Morgan took twenty minutes trying to decide if he should open his or wait, even though he knew what it was! When Danny opened the card, he said, " Dollars! Just what I wanted!" So funny!

Another cozy day.

More outside play!

Visiting Santa! Danny's face!!!! On the naughty-list for sure!

Before Church one day!

And before Christmas church! The boys sang such sweet primary songs and they both blew me a kiss.

Wrapping presents with this one around is craziness.

When we went to Boise in the middle of December -- reading with papa!

The gingerbread houses we made. They turned out so cute!

The boys had a ball vising the winco candy bins! This is a must! And a total Christmas memory for me, as we made gingerbread houses each year at grandma and grandpa dixon's house, with the same kind of winco bin candy!