Christmas in Missouri

We went to Kansas City for Christmas this year.  We were there from Thursday evening, the 22nd to Tuesday, the day after Christmas.  We just hung out for a couple of days.

Ledger found all his shoes in the suitcase and was trying to put them all on.

He was quite the messy eater while we were there!  The applesauce was smeared all in his hair!

He was eating chocolate cake here.

My three precious boys.

Grandad was going through some old keepsakes.  It is always fun to hear him tell all kinds of stories about the good ole days.

We found this gem among his things.  It was a note that Kurt had apparently typed up about the day that Lyle was baptized.  It was so special, I took a picture of it.

I convinced Kris that we needed to get out of the house for my birthday.  So, we asked Kurt, Alexis, Isabelle, and Addi to meet us at the Plaza in KC for supper the night before.  We wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory but there was a 3 hour wait at 5:00!!  So, we went to Jack Stack Barbeque.  It was delicious!!!

It was bitter cold that evening, so we didn't really get to shop or look around.  We were just about frostbitten by the time we walked the several blocks from the place we parked to the restaurant.

The Plaza is really neat at the holidays.  I was hoping that the kids could go ice skating too, but it was just too cold.

It actually snowed on my birthday!

Later that day, the rest of the family came over for lunch and to have Christmas.

Everyone went down to the basement and Lyle tried to give away a bunch of stuff.  They are really in the give away mode right now.  He found an old Navy hat of his.

Present time!  Ledger doesn't look happy here, but he was excited about the presents.

Addi was excited about her present from us.

Until she opened it.  She didn't want to have anything to do with it after that.  This is the 2nd year in a row that she has done that.  Next year, she may just get cash!  Ha!

Grandma always has big expressions when she opens the kids' gifts!

Our nephew, Austin, made everyone a plaque for the wall with their anniversary on it.  It was so sweet and so nice!!!

Grandma always has to explain the kids' gifts to them.  She takes everything out and gives it to them one at a time.  I think this is her way of making it more special.  :-)

I love how everyone loves to play games.  They played Wahoo and Pitch for a long time.  Mona and her boys ended up staying that night until about 11:30 p.m.  We played a new game that Les and Carol taught us that was called "Empire."  It was SO much fun.  Mona's boys said they would play one round and then they would go home.   Well, we all loved the game so much that we played about 5 or 6 rounds!

Lots of fun times at the Keim Christmas!!!