Here's what I'm loving right now…

Christmas!!

Can you tell? 

Just putting together projects and thinking ahead for the blog posting is letting me bask in the Christmas spirit! I'm starting to think it's kind of a selfish thing here, even though I hope I'm inspiring others (including my family!!) to enjoy this joyous season!

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So first of all, I really have to admit that I didn't quilt last night! I didn't quilt today either! Ohhh my!! I did sew last night…for a later post…and you are going to LOVE IT!! 🙂

But yesterday, we went shopping. We did grocery shopping, craft shopping AND Christmas shopping. 

Of course, I can't spill about the Christmas shopping or the craft shopping (you'll see that soon enough!), but I do wanna show you a little something I got at the grocery store!

Cloves! Whole cloves are awesome at Christmas time. My mom has an incredible Wassail recipe that I just may share later next week that uses cloves…yummmmmmm!

But my reasoning for buying them is to make pomanders.

Yup, this is a Keller annual tradition to make these! 

A little teeny back story on the oranges…

A friend has a neighbor with an over productive satsuma (a kind of mandarin orange) tree, and she brought us several batches of satsumas that I've been eating. While eating the very yummy juicy satsumas, the oranges I had just bought were not seeming to last…ie…we had one go bad! 

So instead of risk eating pure penicillin, I decided to make pomanders! (yes, i did throw the moldy orange away!!)

Of course, my girlies were up for the task, too!

Two years ago, both Cora and I injured our thumbs pushing those little pesky cloves into the orange. So this year, I got out my scrapping tools! Here Emma is using a paper piercer to make the hole for the clove. Worked like a charm!

(yep, Lil is a lefty…just like Daddy!)

Cora and Maria popped in in between teenage parties!! teeheee!! Love these girlies!!

Our creations!!

so fun!!! and they smell heavenly…which is the whole point!! LOL!!

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***ahem*** 

…taking a break from Christmas to show you very cute kid pics!…

Today was Lillian's first Mini Olympics at Iron Cross Gymnastics:

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

My wild child…i love her so!! Congrats, Lil!!!

***okay…back to our regularly scheduled Christmas programing!!***

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When we got home from the gym this afternoon, the mail guy was there!! With my amazing Christmas cards!! Yipeeee!! (that was fast!! wow!!)

So tonight, I got my Christmas book with all of my addresses and lists out and started addressing.

Then I wrote our annual Christmas letter. For the last two years, I've only uploaded our letter here to my blog. But this year, I decided to print it out and include it with the cards! So fun!!

I still have a page for it here on the BLOG:

Keller's CHRISTMAS LETTER 2010

(be sure and click the image to read it…otherwise, you have some serious vision abilities if you can read it that small!! LOL!!)

Tomorrow afternoon, in front of the football tube, I'll write little notes on the letter for each person I send a card to! And they will probably get to all of my stateside friends before Christmas…maybe even to my Canadian friends!! (my European and Aussie buddies, you'll love it when it finally gets to you!!)

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Tune in tomorrow when I show you what I did with this stuff…

I'm sooooo Christmasy excited!! LOL!!