God Bless Us.......EVERY ONE!

I love family! THEY are the reason holidays are so great. Those people love you unconditionally and are the most comfortable to be around. Here we are, my mom, sister and our children at a production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in KC before Christmas. Great time! We try to do this every year, make a trip up there to visit my brother David's family and go to the Plaza, maybe ice skate if it's not too freezing cold and windy (which it has been the past two years) and eat at Fritz's.

I am ever so grateful for my family and here's why:

I never assume that I think like most people. In fact, I've found over the years that I'm usually safer to assume the opposite. I'm just a bit of an outcast, everywhere I go. It's okay, I'm totally used to it.

You know, the most popular movies or tv shows....I don't get them. I don't want the same things that other women my age seem to want. Shoes? Unless they're a new pair of muck boots, I don't care. My kitchen doesn't have granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances, it looks a lot more like your grandma's kitchen. I have knitted chicken pot holders hanging on my wall. By choice. And I flip out over vintage Tupperware.


One Christmas gift I really appreciated.

I don't wear makeup much. My ideal vacations are camping and hiking. I don't care what I drive and I couldn't tell you what my friends drive, I don't pay attention. If someone left me a three bedroom mobile home to live in for free I would totally take them up on it. I can do a lot of traveling if I don't have to worry about making payments!

I took Alina to get her hair done before her Christmas program, because I am useless when it comes to doing hair.

I totally appreciate my husband's creativity in what he does for a living, but I would never be a good client for him because I'm not impressed enough by good quality to pay for it. I am very grateful there are people out there who do pay for it! He gets annoyed when he uses my kitchen because I don't use high quality anything. I would use a stick from the yard if it got the job done.

Some people may think I display a lack of ambition, and that notion is not totally without merit. Some people, however, may equate that with a lack of intelligence, and I do disagree with that!
I simply don't care about things that a lot of people care about. And I admit to being a little too judgmental at times of people that I feel care too much about things that I don't think are important. And I don't care much what people think of me, even when I would benefit from caring a little more. I'm actually working on that one.

I do care about creativity, family togetherness and I do have a passion for teaching the young kiddos that I teach.

I'm just saying.....I have friends (who think I'm weird) but I am never surprised when people don't immediately relate to me.

But my family......they just think "That's Karen and she's fabulous."

That's awesome.

And I also think they are fabulous.

Pics from Christmas:


Loving my new camera! Which was quite expensive, by the way, so I do care a little about quality.


My girls at the Cheesecake Factory picking out dessert after A Christmas Carol.

My eldest and me. I hope one day she truly appreciates the person her mother is. I love her dearly.

Little elf Harrison, running around maniacally on Christmas Eve.


Mom, displaying some new hypo-allergenic Christmas bling.


My creative husband made metal signs for Dyson and Dad.
Twin cousins

Ever smiling and thoughtful Emily.


We like to line the kids up on the couch for a picture.

Brother, sisters and spouses.


And at our house Christmas morning. Would you believe we actually have to get our girls out of bed and then they're grouchy for awhile, they have to warm up.


Troy's brother Tim called multiple times throughout the week to make sure we would have chai at our house for him Christmas morning. I went out and bought some and when he got there he told me it was the wrong kind, he doesn't drink that kind anymore. He drank it anyway, in his self-stirring cup we bought for him.



Alina asked for and got neck pillows for Christmas. And now we have pillow pets with neck pillows!