'Twas The Night Before Christmas

Ahh, Christmas Eve. That magical evening of childhood innocence, dancing sugar plums, homecooked deliciousness...


Okay time for a reality check...instead of visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, the kids went bonkers from excitement and cookie overload. But I guess that's what Christmas is all about?


Dean chose to eat the whipped cream off of his cookie by dipping a Christmas card into the cream and licking it off. I figured...he wasn't crying...so have at it kid.


Time for the obligatory pose around the Christmas tree shot...we had 1 out of 4 kids cooperating (thanks Cha!)


Then we worked our way up to 2 out of 4 kids cooperating - a Christmas miracle.


The church service was beautiful...luminaries lined all of the walkways and we all lit candles and sang Silent Night at the end. Cole was particulary impressed that the minister asked us to light the chalice at the start of the service...a 4 year old's version of his 15 minutes of fame.



After the service everyone brought something sweet to eat...Dean decided to skip the cookies and cake and went right for the shoe.


Another Christmas miracle...when we got home the boys asked to go to bed. Huh?!? So we willingly obliged and went to our neighbors for drinks.

After settling into their kitchen stools with wine glass firmly planted in hand, I realized what Christmas means to me (besides the alcohol). Sitting with your friends and laughing about our crazy life. Making the kid's favorite foods and hearing them say thank you. Seeing their excitement about Santa coming to town. Hearing hundreds of people at church sing together by candlelight.

When you strip away the chaos it really was a fantastic day. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Tis The Season

Ahh, the joy of family traditions. When we say it out loud it sounds so nice: "We go to a farm every year to cut down our own Christmas Tree."

The reality of this adventure includes 4 crazy boys, a maze of trees to get lost in, old dull saws, and an unfortunate situation of having to go uphill both ways (still haven't figured that one out).

Before we even made it out to the field, Cole got put in time out for fighting with Ry over who would pull the cart.



He snapped out of it quickly since it was his year to pick the tree. He chose this beaut which didn't seem so big out in the field...until we brought it home and realized it was taller than the ceiling.


Charlie was truly trying to help...


...Ry was not.


And here she is all decorated and lit up in the front window.


These videos are so classic Kerper - chaos and whining mixed in with laughter and love. Wishing you the latter as you celebrate your own holiday traditions.

Fa La La La La

On Saturday we hopped on the West Chester Railroad Christmas Train. They have guys playing banjos and everyone sings Christmas carols, then the big man himself makes an appearance.


I'm pretty sure Phil took this picture, although you'd think that it was one of the boys based on the composition (he cut the head off poor Santa).

The train goes to the Glen Mills station and back - once you get to the station everyone lines up to sit with Santa. Cole asked for a truck, Ry played shy, Dean slept, and Charlie fa-reaked out.

The next day we went to cut down our Christmas tree. Ironically, the Christmas Train drove by right when we got to the farm.

Here's our tree in its natural habitat (with Charlie semi-mooning the camera)...

Here Ryan and Phil cut it down...

...and here she sits all lit up in the house.

The idea of decorating the tree played out much more romantically in my head than it happened in real life.

In my head there were carols playing softly in the background as I explained the significance of each ornament to a captive audience. In real life, Cole broke glass all over the floor, Ry got the lights tangled up, and Charlie splashed in the tree stand water.

'Tis the season to be jolly!