New Year, New Chances

Oh my blog! 2010 wasn't the year of the blog. I like my blog so I hope this year the writer's block lifts. It must be that third child. I find I have little time between when the last one goes to bed and it's my bed time. Someone little is always up.

I'll start with a little Christmas. Kelly was our honored guest this year. We love having her but are all hoping that 2011 brings with it a serious, commitment-type, love interest. That way she won't have to sit through 20 questions on why she's not married with the missionaries next year on Christmas Eve.

Oh how my kids loved Kelly and her suitcase of gifts. She gave them out early. One night (before Christmas) Andy whispered, "let's go get something out of Kelly's suitcase." Later he was overheard saying, "Kelly is the best Kelly in the whole world."

Here we all our Christmas morning. Jeff is cute and made a fire in the fireplace. I thought the whole fireplace and mantle were just for looks. He made a fire on Christmas Eve after he thought the kids went to bed. We were surprised when Nicky came down the stairs and gave us a dirty look. How would Santa get in with that hot fire?

I like how Jeff celebrates holidays. I really didn't want to go out for New Year's Eve. It was cold and it's my least favorite holiday. New Year's is like the definition of anti-climatic. I ended up being happy we went out. Jeff made us our own hot chocolates in disposable thermos cups. Old Town Sacramento puts on a fun New Year's Eve party. They do fireworks at nine and midnight. We lied and told Nicky it was midnight when the fireworks went off at nine. She was so excited she stayed up until midnight and we were downtown. She got out her treats and had a "midnight snack." Unfortunately our lies caught up with us when we got in the car and Jeff said something like, "it's already ten." That darn Kindergarten teacher taught Nicky time. She cried and was angry that we'd lied so we let her truly stay up until the real midnight. She barely made it. She loved watching the last three minutes of Dick Clark's special. Her favorite part was all the confetti.

Here we are freezing our patooties and having fun thanks to Jeff.

As far as New Year's resolutions go, I have the usual list. Although I need to add, "stop being a hypocrite" to my list. I taught that word to Nicky during the break. She loves to point out when I'm being a hypocrite like I lick peanut butter off the butter knife. (I always tell them never to lick knives.) I was reading something nice about having the Christmas spirit year round. It said New Year's was really an extension of Christmas and was all about the second chances Christ offers through the atonement. I liked that. May we all strive to spend the year doing a little better and making most of a new chance and a new year.