Christmas Celebrations (all 6 of them)

"Christmas" was a multi-day event this year... 

 

 1.  Matt and I's celebration and "gifts" came first - a few weeks before Christmas.  Just like last year, we chose to support the Don Bosco Holiday Friends program instead of getting gifts for each other.  But we were too late to adopt a family this year.  After a little initial disappointment, we decided it was actually a good thing that all the families had sponsors, and opted for two seniors instead.  We got their profiles and went to check each thing off the list that they wanted.

I wasn't as good at taking pictures this year, but they got slippers, bed sheets, underwear, blankets, etc.  Nothing too exciting, but it was all needed.

We were supposed to get to deliver the presents again this year, but that fell through, too.  When we showed up to the center, they said they weren't ready to make deliveries just yet, but we spent some time there anyways...cleaning up, arranging all the gifts and packing them, organizing/cleaning out a closet, etc.  Just whatever they women running the show needed help with.  A little volunteer time is always good. :)

2.  Our Christmas present to ourselves was tickets to the musical Les Miserables as it came through KC.  Matt had seen it once before (in London), so this show didn't quite live up to his expectations, but I thought it was amazing! 


*Funny story:  We wanted to go out to eat before the show, and thought an hour and a half would be plenty of time to eat sushi at Drunken Fish downtown.  That turned out to be a very bad judgement call.  We didn't even have our sushi by the time we needed to leave for the show.  After tracking down the manager, he had the sushi boxed up and met us at the door with it.  We literally RAN with a bag of expensive sushi the few blocks to the show, and hid it under my coat to sneak it in.  We ate it after the show - and it surprisingly wasn't that bad...even warm and shaken up. ;)

3.   The Satruday morning before Christmas was when we celebrated as a family (the Keeler side).  Doughnuts and sausage were served, and the kids opened presents.

My ADORABLE nieces and nephews:  Hadley, Allie, Hunter, Brody

I got Hunter a little train set...

...and Hadley a singing bear thing (my mom picked it out) and a trip to Monkey Bizness and the pet store - two of her favorite places to go: 

(*Once I told her what the card said, she informed me that Monkey Bizness was closed and went back to playing with her toys, haha.)

Allie and Brody got gift cards for Dave & Busters - another "date day" with Aunt Terri!

(Those are my favorite!)

I made some home made hand cream for the girls, and got them Feed Just One t-shirts. 

The boys got some new K-State grilling utensils.

My mom got an ornament with a picture of Hadley in it.  And when you push the button, it's Hadley saying, "I love you, Grammy!"  It's the cutest thing ever, and of course made her cry...as she pushed the button over and over again.  We also got her a picture of a new tv - coming soon. 

4.  That Saturday night, the celebration continued as we all (minus the two littles) went to the K-State vs Florida basketball game at the Sprint Center.  A small catastrophe was adverted by walking 8 blocks to find a restaurant to eat at.  And then the 'Cats pulled out a W to end a great night!

YES, those are matching t-shirts.  My mom got them for us at Old Navy, and the boys were NOT happy about wearing them, haha!

I LOVE this picture of all of us!  Just missing Hadley and Hunter :(

5.  On Christmas Eve, we went to mass downtown at the Catherdral with my mom and Tony/Christa.  We got there before the previous mass even ended in order to make sure we actually got a seat, which turned out to be a good call.  10 minutes after we sat down, the place was packed.  After mass, we went to Fogo de Chao on the plaza, an all you can eat Brazilian steak house.  The girls opted for the all you can eat salad bar instaed of the meat (which was still fantastic) while the boys made themselves sick on 10 different cuts of meat.

"Santa" came while we were at mass and dropped off some stockings for us big kids to go through. Jewelry, scarves, candy, gift certificates...Santa came through! :)

 6.  Christmas morning started out with more presents under the tree for Matt & I.  The dogs also got their stockings, and thoroughly enjoyed all the new dog treats and squeakey toys! 

We went back out to Tony and Christa's for more crazy Christmas present opening with her side of the family.  It was madness...

Look at all those people - and all that wrapping paper!

Then it was off to lunch at Matt's roommates parents house for an amazing feast.  His mom is such a wonderful cook, and we got to meet the newest member of the family, Goliath!

Goliath - trying to sneak some Christmas lunch

That evening we took my mom to see the movie Les Miserables. She must of enjoyed it, because she actualy stayed awake during the whole thing!  Matt and I loved it (although I liked the musical a little more...)

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It was another great Christmas, and I'm so thankful for all the blessings I have in my life - my family, my friends, my health... and especially for the real reason we celebrate Christmas.