SHOPPING, WRAPPING, AND ADDRESSING

Dear Kurt,

We spent most of our day and night shopping for Christmas presents, wrapping Christmas presents and addressing envelopes.

All of which could easily be my least favorite parts of Christmas.

But now I can enjoy some of my most favorite parts of Christmas: Giving gifts, listening to Christmas music, staring at my Christmas tree, thinking about my family and Jesus Christ's birth, and eating.

Sincerely, Lori

HIDING IN THE DESK

Dear Brooklyn,

Lately you love to hide in the desk.

You climb in there and pull CD's out of my CD case and throw them.

Sometimes you just climb in and shut the door for a while.

Sincerely, Lori

SHOPPING FOR CHRISTMAS BULBS

Dear Brooklyn,

I thought I had taught you not to touch the Christmas bulbs on our tree.

I was obviously wrong because when I walked into the living room you were filling up your shopping cart with as many bulbs as would fit in it.

You knew you were in trouble because you immediately started taking them out and throwing them. Yeah, like that would get you in less trouble.

Luckily none of them broke and you haven't touched them since.

Sincerely, Lori

A MONDAY NIGHT DATE

BROOKLYN AND GRANDPA KILLIAN WATCHING US LEAVE FOR OUR DATE.

Dear Kurt,

Tonight you surprised me with a date.

I love surprises but you are really bad at keeping secrets for very long.

But tonight when you told me we were going out I didn't expect it at all.

So we dropped off Brooklyn at your parents and went to a movie.

Seeing a movie on a Monday night is brilliant. We got an awesome parking spot and almost had the whole theater to ourselves.

Thanks for taking me out! And for surprising me!

I love you so much.

Sincerely, Lori

DANCE PARTY

YOU AND CLAYTON LEARNING YOUR DANCE MOVES.

Dear Kurt,

I love Dance Central!

We borrowed the game from our neighbors and played it for a while with our friends, Danielle and Clayton.

It is super fun.

Danielle and I would have a dance battle and then you and Clayton would have a dance battle. All the while we were laughing our heads off at each other and taking embarrassing videos of silly moves.

We are definitely going to have to borrow this game again for a few more dance parties. It was so much fun!

Sincerely, Lori

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

THE MUSIC HOUSE.

Dear Brooklyn,

Tonight we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

The whole time you would point out the car window and say "wow" every ten seconds.

BROOKLYN ENJOYING THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS.

Our favorite was the music house. The lights were set to music. It was pretty cool. But we didn't stay long because all of a sudden you thought you were going to starve to death and started crying and signing food over and over again.

Next time we will bring lots of snacks so we can enjoy the whole show.

Sincerely, Lori

READING TIME

Dear Brooklyn,

I love our reading time together.

Sincerely, Lori

WHEN YOU PICK A FIGHT WITH A VAN

Dear Mom,

Today you had a fight with the van.

The van won.

In fact, the van put you in the hospital.

8 stitches and a headache later I get a text message from Christina with several sad pictures of your forehead.

I was instantly worried and called right away. You said you were fine.

It brought back bad memories of when you fell off a ladder six years ago and ended up with some nasty head wounds. We joked that it was a good thing I wasn't there today because I would probably just have told you over and over again "It's so bad, mom, you're gonna die!"

In all seriousness, I am so sorry you got hurt today.

Please be more careful.

I hope you feel better soon and heal quickly.

I will call and check on you tomorrow.

I love you so much!

Sincerely, Lori

DECK THE HALLS... AND THE BABY

Dear Brooklyn,

Tonight we all went Christmas shopping.

It was not a good idea.

You have become a pain to shop with. You won't stay in the shopping cart. You won't let me hold you. You run around the stores trying to pull things off the shelves. Then you scream when I pick you up and won't let you down.

At least with your dad there one of us can shop while the other chases you around.

Ok. This was not suppose to a letter where I tell you how big of a pain you were when we went shopping tonight.... or any night... ok, I'm stopping.

Tonight your dad and I also finished decorating for Christmas.

You decorated yourself.

You are the cutest part of Christmas... even if you do make shopping a pain.

Sincerely, Lori

A CHRISTMAS TREE AND A CHRISTMAS PARTY

KURT AND LORI AFTER THE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Dear Kurt,

Today we bought our Christmas tree.

It took us a while to decide and by the time we picked one out Brooklyn's nose was bright red and my fingers and toes were frozen. But it was worth it because our tree is gorgeous. I love it. Now if we only had more than 20 plain Christmas bulbs and three short strings of lights to put on it.

It looks like I need to hit the after Christmas sales this year to buy us some decorations so that next years tree will not be so bare.

But for now our beautiful Christmas tree is all we need for our home to shine brightly with Christmas spirit.

Tonight we went to your work Christmas party.

It was filled with great people, amazing food, a cheesy movie, a game (which I won), generous gifts and lots of laughs.

The Christmas season is now in full swing around these parts.

I am loving every minute of it.

Sincerely, Lori