Sunday, January 3, 2010

Holiday happenings

I hope that each of you had a splendid Christmas. I know I did. Would you like to know why? Well then, by all means, read on.

Christmas Eve was spent with Justin's family. (Well, first it was with my dad, but I didn't get pictures of that because I'm lame. But it was fun nonetheless.)

The Carrell family Christmas:

We ate pizza, drank wassail (mmmmmm), and opened presents.


Kennedy was euphoric about her new Barbie car.


So was Justin.

Harley thoroughly enjoyed her presents, as well. Via mastication.

Kennedy also received a magnificent Barbie dress-up box. She was so excited that she completely ignored the outstretched hand which was eagerly awaiting a "five".

And after blinking my eyes for only a second, the girls had transformed into Barbie-princess-fairies with magic wands who turn unsuspecting kin into frogs, snakes and other creatures. 'Twas quite the adventure.

And here are the women and children (minus myself), squished on a couch. The men were too cool and manly to be in a picture:

After a long and exciting evening with the Carrell family, we went home so that Santa could bring us some stuff.

Morning came, and so had Mr. Kringle.

Kennedy awoke to find some presents under the tree and couldn't wait to rip them open to see if Santa had granted her wish and brought her some Smencils and Sword and the Stone.

Oh look, he did. Amazing.

And since he's a pretty cool cat, he gave us more stuff.

I know it's not nearly as cool as Smencils, but I guess it will do.

We then went over to spend the rest of Christmas day with my brother and his family, AND my mother, who had been brought there by Santa. Christmas dinner was fabulous, since my sister in law cooked and she is like Martha Stewart, except without all the craziness.

And to sum it up, the rest of the year was fun. We got much-needed carpet installed downstairs, hung out with mi madre, had a little New Year's get-together with some friends, and played way too much Wii.

Now it's back to work. Yay....

18 comments:

Kristin said...

I know I'm old and out of the loop, but what are smencils? Smelly pencils?

I'm glad you weren't too disappointed about the wii. Try to have some fun with it anyway.

:)

Ashley Rae said...

Yes, Kristin- you guessed right. They are gourmet scented pencils:

http://www.smencils.com/

It's amazing how realistic the scents are (root beer, watermelon, orange, etc). Pretty cool, actually...

the mom said...

Just look how Kennedy is modeling the movie and the smencils. She may have a career as the new 'Carol Merrill" (or whoever replaced Carol on "The Price Is Right")

Smencils do smell surprisingly delicious.

can I just say again how much I suck at Super Mario Brothers? Ashley, I can't believe how patient you were with me. I liked it when your yoshi ate me and carried me to safety....

It was very fun to spend the holiday with you guys. And your basement finally feels like a real room! That carpet and paint will be the best money spent on your house so far....

Kaeloni said...

Sounds like it was a great holiday!

Ashley Rae said...

Mom- it was a blast playing Mario with you. And same with boxing. lol...

And yes, the carpet makes an incredible difference. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it, sometime...

Kaija said...

Oh she is so cool! Smencils were a hit at the elem. school I student taught at...So glad your Christmas was great!

Raising Helm said...

Beautifully said...almost brought me to tears it was so exciting. Smencils, wii, wasssile, and princesses???oh my goodness what a nice way to say adios to the year. Happy to know you had a splendid time and enjoyed family food and fun. love ya!

Sara said...

I love that she just wanted a movie and some smelly pencils, and yet she ended up with a Wii. ha ha! ;-) Sounds like you guys had a great Christmas! New carpet, a Wii, Wassail, and smencils. What more can you ask for? She is so cute. I hope I get a girl someday so we can get girly gifts instead of just "boy toys"! lol!
I hope you have a great 2010!

the mom said...

I wouldn't mind receiving a boy toy... :)

Ashley Rae said...

Oh mom... lol

Sarah said...

how funny that she was more excited about smencils than a wii. And i'm glad i know what smencils are now too.

looks like a fun christmas! btw, i'm glad i got to meet your funny mom. she is very nice. so is justins mom!

The Anderson's said...

Isn't it funny with kids? You never know which present is going to be their favorite. And often times it's the LEAST expensive present:)

Michelle said...

What praytell is "smencils?"

Looks like Kennedy is a very lucky little princess, I would have died to have those Barbie things at her age!

Ashley Rae said...

@Michelle- they are scented colored pencils. We have flavors such as root beer, watermelon, orange, black cherry, etc. They actually smell REALLY good... http://www.smencils.com/

Anonymous said...

Isn't the Wii great? We love ours! And I am dying to know where Kennedy got that cute pink sweater she's wearing in those firt couple ofpics. I LOVE it!!

Jennifer said...

It was so much fun to spend Christmas with you guys! I'm glad you enjoyed the dinner so much too. :) Thank you!

Brandon Pearce said...

We had a blast playing and chatting with you guys - not just on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but also on the day after when we crashed your house so that we could play the wii- I mean, visit with you and bring mom her photography circle thingy's. Anyway, you guys are awesome and we will miss you!
- Coming to you live from the Orlando airport, on our way to Costa Rica!

Smiley Family said...

Fun Christmas post. Loved the mac pics. And now I am in the mood for chili...I think I'll have to put together my own "cook-off". Oh, and I have had a chili recipe with brown sugar and it was quite tasty.

I didn't get completely caught up, but close. Love your blog. I promise to do better :o)