The Strait Scoop: January 2013

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Until next year....

Time to wrap up the remainder of the year's Surprise House activities....

December 17
"Watch 'The Gift of the Night Fury'" - Basically "How to Train Your Dragon" Christmas special. It was a hit.

December 18
"Eat candy canes" - Yes, I know we already did this one. I was running out of steam at this point, which is evidenced even further by the fact that I didn't get a single picture of them actually eating the candy canes.

December 19
"Read 'The Story of Christmas'" - The kids love this book about the true meaning of Christmas.

December 20
"Eat Christmas cereal for dinner" - Christmas Captain Crunch, to be exact. And the kids got a kick out of eating breakfast a dinnertime.

December 21
"Have a PJ day" - And that's just what we did....stayed in our PJs all day.

December 22
"Go to Oklahoma" - Actually, I forgot to do the Surprise House since we were leaving for OK early that morning. I remembered when we were already on the road. Oh, well. The kids didn't even notice from all their excitement, so that's success to me.

A memorial and our Christmas

On December 15, we had the difficult task of saying good-bye to my Aunt Debbie who passed away peacefully in November after a long battle with cancer. She was brave and strong and independent, and the memorial service put together by her daughters was the perfect tribute to and celebration of her life. She is and will be missed.

During the service, our dear friends, Corey and Blythe, watched the kids for us so that we could provide as much help to my cousins as possible. Parker and Sadie sure had a blast making and decorating sugar cookies. Thanks again, guys!

Corey and sweet Baby C looking on.

After Aunt Debbie's memorial, the family members went out to eat together. It was a nice, relaxing time.

Our family.

My cousin, Stephanie, and her family.

My cousin, Kristen, and her son.

We are often out of town at Christmas, so last year we started a tradition of celebrating "Christmas Eve" and "Christmas Day" with just our family before we leave. This particular day was to be our Christmas Eve.

December 15
"Go and see the Many Lights of Christmas" - The Many Lights of Christmas is a drive-thru light display put on by a local church. We got in our PJs and headed out with hot chocolate and sugar cookies in hand.

"Set out cookies for Santa" - When we returned from looking at lights, the House had one more surprise for the kids. They were super excited to set out cookies for Santa!