Good Things

Martha Stewart's magazines have a feature called "Good Things" which is sort of her like her monthly favorites or easy simple ideas (as opposed to the regular feature length articles she publishes, which if any of you know of mine and Kellie's forays into Martha Stewart Craft Land, you'll know that they aren't always so easy :o) So here is our list of Good Things and a Christmas recap:Firstly, a former coworker from KW had her baby on Monday morning, a healthy baby girl. Anna and her husband Marcus have been praying for a long time for such a wonderful gift and went through IVF in order to have her. Congratulations to the Jenkins family! We are so thankful that things went well and that Abby Lu is healthy and perfect. Not to mention dang cute!

Secondly, we visited with the hand surgeon today and the good news is that there won't be a need for surgery to regraft the skin or to repair the tendon. Michael still doesn't have proper sensation in the tip of his finger, but his finger is still a bit swollen, so it may be a little bit before he does regain feeling in the tip of the thumb. He goes back to see Dr. Sharma in one more week to determine whether or not they'll need to go in and check it out, but he hopes to not have to and is very impressed with how things have progressed.

Thirdly, we had a wonderful Christmas. We had hoped to avoid having to do extensive traveling and multiple Christmases, but it didn't go quite as planned. We spent Christmas Eve with Michael's mom as we have in the past and we had a great time. Judy gave Sybilla the cutest little wicker rocking chair EVER, which Billa loves to push around since it slides so well on the carpet. She gave us gift cards to be used towards a much needed date night, which we are planning on using very soon. Michael received the traditional cologne and toy, which happened to be a remote control helicopter. She also gave them to her SO Carl and his brother in law Gary. Of course, the three boys HAD to open them and wanted to have helicopter fights, but we found out that two of the three were set for the same channel, so they could only go one on one sadly. Hilarity and hijinks ensue. Of course I was not able to capture it all on film since we had yet to get our camera that evening.

Christmas day went well, with us getting up and having a low-key Christmas morning. I've attached pictures for your perusal! Later on we had Michael's dad, step mom to be, and his sister come over and we unwrapped presents. I now have a mighty collection of FIVE rolling pins, thanks to having received three of them as gifts. I have no idea on how to display them, but I will figure it out. My parents came not too long after (my brother David was sick back at the ranch with a sinus infection and Philip stayed up way too late with his friends. Whatever. They missed out on all my enchilada goodness. Hosers.) and we all enjoyed a massively good meal of enchiladas, tamales, rice and beans. I had several platters of random homemade cookies, candies, and goodies for dessert, along with chips, homemade salsa, guacamole, and queso. Ah, Mexican Christmas! Sanchez Claus was good to us all.

Why are we up so early?

It's Christmas!? Yes!

Sybilla opening her presents

I love my new bathtoy!

Daddy got some initialed hankies... thanks Mommy, er, Santa!

After everybody left, Michael and I just lazed about and then headed down the street to the Marino's house to deliver their presents. I still have yet to get Anthony to install my keyless entry on the car (yay!) and they also gave us a new receiver, since they inadvertently blew ours up by overheating it. We gave the kids goodie bags which they LOVED; apparently Madeleine is still carrying hers around a week later. That was one of my favorite memories as a kid; a former work associate of my dad's would send me and my brothers coffee cans wrapped in fun paper that contained a caboodle of fun toys, candies, and dime store games. I miss those immensely, which is why I go crazy with the stocking stuffers every year!

A couple of nights later Uncle Zander and Aunt Sarah came and bestowed new bath toys and a fisher price baby doll stroller upon Sybilla. She had a blast running back and forth in the living room with the stroller and she keeps going into the bathroom several times a day to look longingly at her toys, waiting anxiously for bathtime. Now I just start the water and she comes running in!

Over our many Christmases, we have received many unexpected wonderful gifts, but the best one of all is spending time with all of our friends and family! We hope you all did too and as we get ready to enter the New Year, we look forward to creating many new memories and sharing time and great meals with you all!

Happy New Year,
Kelly, Michael, Sybilla & Gumerry the Gray Destroyer of all Things Paper, Q-Tip, Hairtie & the Occasional Piece of Tissue Wrapping!