For the first time in the history of our marriage, we only made one trip to Chillicothe for Christmas. Hooray! On New Year's Eve Eve we celebrated Kerr Christmas at David and Brenda's house. Then the girls had a sleepover with their cousins at Granny's house and spent NYE with them.
Our best duck lips.
The newest great-grandchild: Walter!
Four generations of Kerrs.
They are both piano players now.
The girls Christmas craft for the grandmas and great-grandmas: ribbon Christmas trees.
We had lots of changes this Christmas. Justin and Becky decided not to travel back, so it was the first Christmas without them. And since Marissa and Casey were going to be in KC for his family, and we already live in KC, my parents also came to KC. So it was the first time we didn't have to drive anywhere on Christmas Day and the first time we got to host it at our house. Since everything else was changing, we decided to make it the first Christmas we didn't get each other gifts. Well, the adults anyway. And Santa cut way back on the kids (although I couldn't get the grandparents to cut way back). And nobody missed them! The girls area happy with anything. Every present seems equally awesome to them whether it is a robotic toy or a bath sponge.
This was a tent for dolls, but she can fit in it.
The biggest present was the wii. Steve and Hannah are equally excited about video games. Our house has not been the same since.
The girls started preparing for hosting Christmas right after Thanksgiving. They came up with an itinerary of games and performances.
I had some games of my own, too. I wanted to make the day more about fun family time than presents. And it was definitely a success. We played "Watch Ya Mouth" for the first time where you put cheek retractors in and try to say silly phrases. It was a hit! I laughed so hard I cried.
There was also a saran wrap ball with small presents that was super fun. And the main event was a Christmas performance by Hannah and Olive. Hannah wanted me to teach her a few Christmas songs on the piano, so I did. We got some simple sheet music that could be played with only one hand at a time. She memorized Jolly Old St. Nick, Jingle Bells, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, and Silent Night. Olive danced while she played and they both wore Christmas hats that changed with each song. It was amazing. And truly one of my favorite Christmases ever.
It seems like we never get snow in KC, so when we do (even if it is only a couple of inches) we celebrate! There's nothing better than fresh snow on Christmas Eve. Best early Christmas present ever.
Nothing is prettier than Union Station at Christmas. Over Christmas break the girls and I spent the day there going to a planetarium show, Science City, and eating lunch on the top of Harvey's.
First grade does a Christmas program and I was looking forward to Olive wearing Hannah's first grade dress. Then Olive told me she was a farmer and needed to wear farmer clothes. What?! It turned out her program was a gingerbread man story and she had a singing part as a farmer. I was a little bummed about her wearing jeans when everyone else was in a Christmas dress. :( Luckily one of my friends just sewed a cute skirt and apron for her daughter and let us borrow the costume. It came with a matching kerchief, which was lucky because Olive was adamant that all girl farmers wore one. So she ended up pretty cute after all. Granny and Papa came to watch her performance, but I didn't get any pictures of them.
Hannah has begged to go ice skating every year when we go to Crown Center, but we never went because I was pretty sure Olive would hate it. Every trip to the roller skating rink involved tears. And I didn't imagine the cold would make it any better. But then we heard Olive's friends were all going ice skating at Crown Center and she is much more likely to try something when she is with her friends. So we gave it a go. It was a nice day so the line was loooooong. We finally got the skates and laced them up...and there were tears before we even got on the ice. Then she saw her friends and she did a lap holding hands...and came back and said it was too hard and she was done. I told her we were going to be here for awhile because Hannah wanted to skate. She sat with me on the sides and then out of boredom she decided she might as well try skating. And she loved it.
"Ice skating is my favorite Christmas tradition. I want to go every year!" -Olive Kerr
I was of the Olive mindset- one lap and done...and I had to hold Steve's hand so I didn't fall down.
