What is that delicious smell??? Is that bacon!!!

 

No truer words have been spoken than those of my eldest baby (and practical clone) Miss Kaitlynn Bella. Today we had yet another Christmas celebration however this time there were no gifts but rather an awesome meal put on by my brother and his amazing wife Anna at their home. Tim hadn't been over to see their new place yet so I had fun showing him around the house and pointing out all the areas and how I would "fill them with various treasures." It was also a great reinforcer as to why we should be saving like crazy so that we can afford to get out on our own in a bigger place. Granted it just means more space for the girls to run around and more floorboards to dust but it wouldn't be nearly as compact a life. However on the other hand, living in a smaller home means I cant own as much and what I do own has to be put away frequently so as not to become cluttered... double edged sword in a way. Lucky for me I have a few years to think about it especially seeing we just got our school loans refinanced (roughly 1,200 a month down to 600 and like 3" interest instead of 8-15% YIKES) so we can allocate that extra money to paying off the principal faster- that's my goal at least. Enough boring money talk. Bring on the good stuff. Like bacon! So AJ and Anna put on a great spread for all of us which included her famous twice baked potatoes, an amazing ham (close enough to bacon for Katester) a beautiful mixed salad and more. Yum yum yum. It was especially good because we had spent the afternoon sledding a few blocks away. So in the end the house that they bought is about 10 minutes (8 literally) from my house and double that from my parents. Which seems to be working out great. Just far enough that no body wants to just "swing by" and visit but not so far away that you couldn't run something over quick. Just about perfect. It had been a while for all of us since we had been sledding. Kyra and myself a few years, about a decade for my mother, Aj and Anna weren't sure and it was Bella's first time. I don't think we have laughed that hard for that amount of time in... well forever. It was such fun. We took turns going down the hill solo and in pairs. At the end we even went down (all of us) arm in arm to see where we would end up "beefing" it. The snow was just deep enough to cover the entire snowhill by a good foot and it was soft and packy--- perfect for sledding! A few kids before us had discovered how to build ramps, so you had to be careful to dodge those unless you wanted to catch some air--- which resulted in bruises the next morning. Either way whether it be cautious or carefree, we all had an amazing time and an excellent meal... truly truly blessed.