The Kassel Family Project Life 365

Candy Canes are this year’s kiddo Christmastime treat.  Both of the kids LOVE them.  Did I mention LOVE them?  I mean really LOVE them!  I bought four boxes this year.  I hope next year they forget that they LOVE candy canes.

The Lowerys came over for dinner (Yummy Tortilla Salad!  Thanks Rach!) and Christmas II for the kids.  Our kids each received a marshmallow pop sucker and T-shirts.  Laura also got barrettes and John got a Hot Wheels Car.  Alia got a My Little Pony and a Hello Kitty coloring book.  After opening presents and eating dinner, the kids watched The Polar Express while us adults hung out upstairs.  It was a very fun, relaxing evening!  Thanks Lowerys!  Now, on to pictures…

Laura opening her marshmallow pop sucker

John holding his “I’m a Handsome Devil just like Dad!” T-shirt

Alia opening her My Little Pony

Andy and I went to Slumberland Furniture to order the kids mattresses for their new bunk beds.  The mattresses will be in on Friday.  Along with those mattresses, a new sectional sofa for our family room will be delivered on Friday! 

As we were wandering through the store looking for a new ottoman for our family room (that comes in January too!), I came across a sectional sofa that is the perfect size and color for the family room.  I sat down on it and I was sold.  Looking at the price tag, I was pleasantly surprised to see it on clearance – priced at $1199.  The salesman told us that in December, Slumberland was taking another 20% off all the clearance prices, making the sectional sofa roughly $960.  So, it’s ours now!  Best part is that between the two mattresses, the sofa, and the ottoman, we got 18 months Same as Cash!  Yay!  This is the first brand-new sofa that Andy and I have ever purchased.  My Dad made our living room sofa/chairs and our family room sofa/loveseat were VERY used when we bought them (not to mention horrifyingly ugly – hence the slip covers).  Oddly enough, Andy’s La-Z-Boy recliner actually cost us MORE than the sectional sofa.  How does that happen?

Are you wondering what the “Pizzas” part of the title is yet?  Well, we had Tamara, Andrea and Kathryn, and Jeremy over for homemade pizza, great conversation, and drinks.  It was a great evening of laughing, talking, and just enjoying ourselves!  Oh, yeah, the kids had fun too!  🙂

Merry Christmas Everyone!  As I suspected, it was an early morning.  I woke up about 5:15 am and made coffee.  I managed to take one sip when Laura appeared declaring, “SANTA CAME!”  From there, it was “off to the races!”  Wake up Daddy, make sure Grandpa and Grandma were up, wake up John, find “just the right spot” in front of the tree, survey which present to open first and then, GO!!!!  Both kids were SO excited about every present.

Laura opens her Lalaloopsy doll – Berry Jars ‘N’ Jam.

John could not open presents fast enough.  He figured out almost immediately that all presents wrapped in either “Cars” or “Thomas the Tank Engine” wrapping paper were for him.

It was so fun watching the kids move from present to present.  I was amused that it took less than 30 minutes to total destruction of the family room.  It was all worth it though because this was the first year that John really “got” it.  He was happy that Santa brought the remote-control car that he wanted.  I see many hours of fun (though I’ll be broke since it takes SEVEN AA batteries) with that car!  The rest of the day was filled with church, great family, happy kids, good conversation, and yummy food.  Tonight is a night in front of the television to watch the Bears vs. the Packers.  Bear Down!

On a sad note, Andy’s Grandpa Blume passed away this morning.  It was not unexpected and Grandpa Blume had a good, long life.  He’ll be missed.  Please say a prayer for Andy and the family as they say goodbye to a wonderful man.

We had lots to do today – cooking and baking, Santa preparations, and various other things.  Grandpa Ken and Grandma Marilyn arrived and they brought along the new bunk beds for the kids!  Once we get twin-size mattresses, we will actually get them set up.  For now, the bunk beds “live” in our garage.

The afternoon was spent cooking and baking.  First came Chocolate Chip Cookies, followed by Cranberry Cheesecake, Cranberry Sauce, and, finally, Night Before Christmas Casserole.  I ran the dishwasher three separate times!

The evening was spent with Santa preparations.  We had to make Reindeer food to spread in the driveway.  Reindeer food is made from Oatmeal and glitter.  It is important to make sure that the reindeer can eat at each house so that they have the magic to fly to get to the next house.

After the Reindeer food was spread and ready, Daddy read “The Night Before Christmas” to the kids.

The last job before going to bed was getting the cookies and milk out for Santa and making sure the family room was clear of obstructions so that Santa could deliver presents.

After the kids went to bed, Andy and I went to church for Christmas Eve services.  Santa arrived at our house around 11 pm.  He ate the tasty cookies and milk, filled our Christmas stockings, and left many presents for the kids.  I made sure to give Santa a big hug and tell him thanks for being so great to the kids.  🙂

I generally despise going to the grocery store.  I menu plan partly so I know exactly what I need from the store and, therefore, do not have to spend more time than absolutely necessary there.  In preparation for Christmas and January, I spent four hours shopping with the kids in tow.  The first stop was Target, followed by Hy-Vee, and then Aldi.  I had to make a trip home after those three because I couldn’t fit anything else into the bed of the truck.

After a quick lunch at Cracker Barrel with Andy and Jeremy, I took the kids and went to Sam’s Club to finish up shopping.  Despite it being December 23, we were in and out of there in fifteen minutes flat.  (Did I mention I generally despise going to the grocery store?)  Andy will need to stop at Moser’s where they have some of the best produce in town on his way home to get a few things, but, aside from milk and produce, we should be good to go on groceries all the way through January.

This is our wedding ornament.  It happens to be the second one because our first one was broken when our cats knocked down our old Christmas tree years ago.  I love this one, but I loved the original more.  Probably because it was my first Bronner’s ornament (Thanks Mom!) and we got it FOR our wedding.  This one was as close to the original as I could get.  This one is still beautiful and it sparkles on the Christmas tree.  I do love it, but I just wish I still had the original.

On a completely unrelated note, Andy showed me the “macro” function on our camera so I can now take really close up pictures.  I always wondered how people did that and the pictures were clear.  So, as you can tell by the picture of our wedding ornament, I’m taking advantage of that new fun feature.