The Kassel Family Project Life 365

Our Christmas cards have been stuffed, labelled, and stamped.

It is time to mail!

Every year, St. Andrew’s Lutheran does a progressive dinner for 6th to 12th grades. Typically, the kids go to three different homes for the three dinner courses, but this year looked a little different. We picked up their dinner early, and they ate it while hanging out on Zoom. It was not the same, but the kids still enjoyed it. Sometimes, you have to get creative and improvise.

We will not be visiting Santa Claus this year for the photo that I usually use for the Shutterfly calendars for the grandparents, because Santa is behind plexiglass. So, we took a photo in front of our Christmas tree. I think this will work.

Our Christmas cards have arrived! It is time to print labels and stuff and stamp envelopes!

There was a menorah lighting on the MU campus for the beginning of Hanukkah tonight. Andy heard about it from one of the members of the Central Missouri Sigma Chi Alumni chapter, and he thought that Laura might both enjoy the experience and learn from it. While Laura said that she felt a bit out of place at first, she found it to be a unique experience and she was glad that Andy took her.

It was simply too beautiful out today to not go for a ride. So, I took a couple of hours off this afternoon and enjoyed the sunshine on the MKT Trail. It was a relaxing 15 miles enjoying the warm December afternoon.

Maybe, it is because of 2020. Maybe, it is because of my age. For whatever reason, I find myself staring at our Christmas tree every night for about 30 minutes before I go to bed.

I look at the ornaments. There are ornaments made by my grandmother, my mother, and my kids.

There are ornaments from places we have visited.

There are ornaments made on Shutterfly from visits to Santa.

There are ridiculously expensive ornaments from the Christkindl Market in Chicago that I yelled at myself for buying, but now I very much appreciate the craftsmanship.

There is the ornament that I bought from Bronner’s as a memorial to my mom.

There are Sigma Chi ornaments that we have been collecting since 1997.

There are several “our first Christmas” ornaments.

And, there is the duck face ornament that Andy hates, yet the kids and I hide every year on the tree because we giggle so much as we hang it.

While we still have a few of the collectible Hallmark ornaments on our Christmas tree this year, I mostly chose “those ornaments.” The ones that make you think back. The ones that are full of memories. The ones that mean something. I have told the kids for years that when they have their own homes, they can take “their” ornaments. Someday, many of these will be gone, so I will enjoy them now. Maybe, that is why I find myself staring each night.