The 2010 Christmas Box

Christmas 2010 has been fantastic. The kids arrived Christmas Eve Eve evening. We had a great time visiting and playing with Peyton. She had a fun bath and then dressed in her new Santa "Claussss" pj's. She woke up Christmas Eve morning ready to play. Grammy read an e-mail that Santa had sent to her - Santa talked to her and even knew what she wanted for Santa to bring her - "her own makeup". She was a little intrigued, even though she isn't so sure about Santa. Since Uncle Mark, Joe and Tom were running a little late due to driving through snow and bad roads from St. Louis, we fed Peyton early and put her down for her nap. The adults ate when the St. Louis clan arrived, and then Peyton woke up in time for the gift exchange. She loved sitting at her new table and chairs with Great Grandma - only Great Grandma could fit in that little chair! They had a great time coloring AND playing chase, until Great Grandma couldn't play chase any longer. We all had a turn at the chase game - Peyton giggled and giggled. It was so much fun. The Mintuns all went to Great Grandma/pa's house, then we Santa brought some fun stuff for everyone at Grammy and PaPa's house!

Of course, among all the fun things, Peyton liked a box the best. She did somersaults off of it, and she "jumped" off of it - the whole 4 inches. To her, she might as well have been jumping 4 feet off that box. She was a hoot and having so much fun - what Christmas is all about.

The kids returned to Olathe late afternoon on Christmas Eve so Santa would find Peyton at her own home on Christmas morning.

Ron and I shared in the Candelight Service at the Methodist Church with communion at 6 p.m. - what a wonderful evening. The church was packed to capacity - beautiful music, and lots of it - meaningful scriptures - the presence of the Lord was in that place as we celebrated the birth of the Christ child, our Lord and Savior. Following the service, we had cake and custard with good friends Debbie and Dennis Sieger at their home before coming home around 9 p.m. to crash ourselves!

Christmas morning started with a Merry Christmas phone call from our precious Amanda - she was ready for Peyton to experience Santa, however, Peyton was still sleeping! Ron and I joined the Mintuns at Grandma/pa's house and had a delicious fried chicken (non-traditional) lunch before the St. Louis guys returned home.

Christmas afternoon Ron and I snoozed and relaxed and remimised about our fantastic 2010 family Christmas.

24 Hours with Peyton

Grammy & PaPa traveled to Olathe on Saturday for a glorious 24 hours with Peyton. Amanda and Chad were having an evening out for a pre-party, Christmas party and post-party with Amanda's company/friends, so we were the lucky ones getting to spend some precious time with Peyton. The time flew past so quickly. We made rice krispy treat wreaths that Peyton enjoyed stirring, molding and adding the red hot decorations on top. She was very proud of her creation. We did some art work, read books, played in her tent, ate dinner and before we knew it, it was time to give her a bath and complete her bedtime routine. She had attended a Christmas program at her church that day and didn't get a nap, so she was very ready to go to bed. We spent the night and had planned to go out for breakfast before returning home, however, the cold weather, snow and wind changed our plans, so we had waffles and bacon at their house. Did you know that bacon makes an excellent dipping agent for syrup and apple butter? Peyton loves to dip her food. Amanda and I took a quick shopping trip to Kohl's before we headed home around 11 a.m. What a fun 24 hours with the most special people in our lives. We are blessed.