Christmas 2019

As the last guests drive away, we can declare this Christmas a success! Everyone (save one cat) stayed healthy and happy! It truly felt like a celebration of family and fun, and we are so grateful that everyone was willing to head our way.

There was cookie decorating, a beautiful Christmas Eve mass, playing among the cousins, outings to the movies and the lights, food, wine, and lots of laughter.

Christmas blessings abounded!

Invention Convention 3.0

A rite of passage in the Third Grade at CKS is the Invention Convention. Fortunately, Laura spared us the agony of coming up with an invention, as she had her brainstorm about a year ago - and remembered it! Think tray table from the airplane, but for the car. 

As the days passed, and Tim was traveling, I started to panic about executing the invention. Some helpful guidance from

Larry assuaged my nerves, but better still Tim came home and took over. This was a good Daddy-Laura bonding experience, too. 

The Convention itself was darling, with a loud buzz of excitement from the kids, and so much creativity. Still, I’m relieved to have this behind us!

Mandatory Christmas Joy

It goes without saying that all five of us - and only the five of us - decorate our Christmas tree. We purchase it the evening before, make our feast (admittedly a bit haphazard this year, as I spent most of the day at a vendor event), and get going. 

This year we selected the very first, and only, tree we looked at, which was a great improvement over last year’s meager selection. I capitalized on Danny’s new status as second-tallest in the family by having him be the one to help Tim wrangle it into the house. Despite how Tim makes the tree look in the above photo, it’s quite large - around 11 feet.

We finished our evening as we’ve done the past few years: A viewing of  “Elf” and chocolate fondue. A sweet evening, and a sweet life.