A Christmas Review

We had a great time on Christmas and I wanted to share with everyone a little glimpse into our day. The girls woke up around 7:15am. Mike and I wanted to start our morning remembering the reason why we were making a big deal of the day so we did our final scripture reading and candle lighting of our Advent wreath. The girls were so good. They were excited about reading the Bible and praying before we went downstairs to see what Santa had left. Not once did we here a "are we done yet? Can we go yet?" . I was so proud of them. I can't wait to do the Advent wreath again next year, it was a real learning experience for us.

Morgan's wish list this year contained one item, the Wii. So, Mike convinced me we should get the girls this for Christmas. I am not sure who the gift was really for HAHA.
We had some technically difficulty getting our Wii in color, but Mike has since fixed that. After the Wii was set up, Nicole promptly whipped Mike at tennis. Must have been all of that practice against Ian.

Rachel was opening only her gifts this year and really understood more what protocol was for gift opening. She had a blast.

Grandma Kelbert bought Papa a Wii for Christmas. So we had to teach Papa the games. I think he enjoyed the bowling.
Every year Christmas Eve rolls around, and I wish I had holiday PJ's for the kids. I finally remembered with enough time to buy them this year and I love how the pictures turned out with the PJ's on.

Rare picture of Mike with a hat on, unless it is the day after he has fallen out of a tree and split his head open. This was a gift from his sister.

Ken's girlfriend, Christina is a trooper. She is loved by all of the kids and takes a beating when she is around. They love to jump, climb and be around her.



Ken and Drew man and Jacob.

The Kelbert/Nugent grand kids. This one took some work and bribery from Grandma. I didn't think my mom had it in her, but this was the statement made before the picture-"Grandma will get a picture of the five of you, or we won't open gifts".

Way to show your true colors Rae.



My mom made all of the girls aprons this year. Mine is great. I love the colors.



Kids table for dinner. Chris and Jen made dinner this year, giving mom a break. Thanks you guys.

We had a great day celebrating the birth and life of Jesus with family and friends.

Happy New Year to all.

A very pleasant surprise-in the mail

A couple of hours ago, the mail lady brought us some packages from my grandfather that lives in Indiana. When I opened them up, I was very excited to see a few things marked "Kelly". This is my mom's dad and he has been known to hold onto "things" for a long time. He also has an extensive antique collection and restores old race cars. The package that caught my eye was the one marked, "to Kelly, from my childhood". Now my grandfather will be 82yrs. old on Jan. 1st. In the package was four books dated back as early as 1929, in great condition. The Night Before Christmas is marked $0.29 and still has some fuzz on Santa's hat.

I am so grateful that Grandpa thought of me. The girls have already read them with mom right near pleading, "please be careful". Mike and I flipped through the ABC book and found quill for the letter Q, something Q would not be represented by today and W had a covered wagon next to it. Just great stuff.

It is hard to see from this photo, but the ABC book has an inscription that says, "To Freddie, from Mary Yvonne, Jan. 1 1930". My grandfather's name is Frederick. Well I just wanted to share my joy with you all. And I know some of you out there love antiques so I thought I would share. I think I can add this to a list of my favorite things this Christmas. My first favorite thing, as is every year, Emmanuel-God is with us. Have a great day.

Piano recital picture mix