The Kassel Family Project Life 365

As a kid, I remember piling into my parents’ car and heading out to look at the Christmas lights around Astoria.  I say “as a kid,” but I distinctly remember doing this on Christmas Eve the first year that Andy came to my house for Christmas.  I don’t think I really qualified as a kid anymore at the age of 21.  That aside, I have always really loved to look at all the Christmas lights.  As a kid, I thought the lights were magical.  As an adult, the lights remind me of the season and bring back memories from when I was a kid.  Tonight, we piled the kids into the car and went driving around.  This house made us all smile (love the “Candy Cane” roof!) and made me think of those times as a kid…  Maybe some day Laura and John will remember these times when celebrating the magic of Christmas with their own kids.

John has a bin of cars – Hot Wheels, Matchbox, etc.  There are a few planes thrown in for good measure.  He plays with these all the time, and not just a few favorites, but *all* of them.  He usually goes to bed with one in each hand.  Santa is bringing more for Christmas.  Our little boy can never have enough cars.

While at dinner tonight, John started taking drinks of milk and making himself burp.  Andy said (with a HUGE grin on his face), “Congratulations John!  You’ve earned your boy card!”

Our Christmas cards arrived from Shutterfly yesterday.  I love them!  I used the pictures from Tamara Dee Photography and I’m so excited to send these out.   I got such a great deal from Shutterfly thanks to many coupons – 40% off the cards, another $10 off on top of that, and free shipping.  The cards are ready for mailing and will go in the mailbox tomorrow.  I hope you like them as much as I do!

Laura (and I) was invited to a Christmas Craft Night at the home of one of her classmates.  What a fun evening for the girls!  Laura got to make a snowman bookmark, a Gingerbread girl notepad, and two foam ornaments with sequins that she hung on our Christmas tree as soon as we got home.  The girls also got to decorate sugar cookies and have milk and cookies.  Laura told me on the way home that it was a great night and she hopes Sophie has another craft night again soon!  (I didn’t tell her that Angie, Sophie’s Mom, said they LOVE to do craft nights and to expect invite to more.)

It won’t be too long before the kids have new beds made especially for them by Grandpa Ken…  How in the world did this much time go by so fast?

Laura took this picture of me while I was working on the 2011 Project 365-My Way photo scrapbook that goes along with this blog.

I am using Shutterfly to make the photo scrapbook and it’s been an adventure.  It’s also made me reevaluate the way I take pictures.  I used to just aim and shoot, but now I’m much more aware of getting the right angle, etc.  I’ve even caught myself looking back at the pictures and thinking, “Nope, I need to take that again, because it won’t look right when I have to crop it.”  The life of a digital scrapbooker…