Christmas 2024

I still can't believe Christmas we have celebrated Christmas. The house has been decorated for weeks and all the gifts were bought and wrapped in a timely manner, however for some reason I was not feeling overly festive and jolly (which was really bothering me) as Christmas day was approaching. For the first time since Camden was born, we did not even send out Christmas cards. The boys did not want to decorate cookies for Santa this year, which saddened me because it seems that tradition that I loved so much as a kid and adult seems to have come to an end. :( Truthfully, we don't have many 'family traditions' that the four of us do and I think that has really hit me this season. The boys I and have chatted about this, and with their help, we are going to find something that fits our family that we can look forward to and become our family tradition. Fortunately, after having the Key family Christmas, I started feeling a little more festive, thank goodness.

Our church held candlelight services on both December 23rd and 24th. We opted to attend service on the 23rd. The candlelight service has always been my favorite one to attend. 

On Christmas Eve, aside from making some Christmas goodies to take to the in-laws on Christmas Day, we did not do too much. The boys were forewarned that Santa would not be visiting this year, to which Camden was concerned because, according to him, Santa always brings the good gifts. LOL. I assured him that he would still receive 'the good gifts', so not to worry. The boys did wake up to stockings full of 'exciting' things such as glow-in-the dark pickleballs, chocolate covered cherries, screensavers, and poopourri spray, just to name a few items.

Before getting ourselves together and heading to Lumberton for the day, we all opened our gifts from one another. Camden received several items for his office setup as well as shoes and an Alexa Spot, while Casen received a new XBox with a game, a speaker and an Alexa Spot as well as a few other things. I received several things for Christmas, but my most treasured gifts were a thank you card from each of my boys with the sweetest messages that brought tears to my eyes. 

Nina got gifts too!

Camden was able to add some of the gifts he received to his office set up and Casen got his XBox up and running before we headed to Lumberton to spend the day with Shane's family. Once we arrived to Nana and Poppa's house, we had breakfast for lunch and then we all opened gifts.

The cousins

Ira and Gavin

Malachi

Camden

Casen

Shanelle with her annual calendar

Kelsey and Me

We had fun playing a few rounds of LCR which resulted in Gavin and Camden as the winners!

Camden with his $10 worth of winnings

We had a surprise visitor later in the evening. We had not seen Connor in quite a few years, so it was great to see him and catch up a bit. He even played a few rounds of pop darts with the boys.

The Hood Family

I failed to get a picture of the boys in front of the tree Christmas morning, so snagged one today. Taking a picture of them together is never easy. . . 

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas season celebrating our Savior's birth and enjoyed time with loved ones.

Key Family Christmas

After coordinating everyone's schedules, we agreed upon December 21st to celebrate the Key family Christmas. Since Casen had a basketball game on Thursday and Camden a soccer scrimmage on Friday, my parents came a few days early so they could watch the boys play their sports. We drove to Montgomery and watched Casen and his team come home with a win. Casen had a great basketball game, scoring 8 points, 4 of those being from his 4 free throws. 

Camden's soccer scrimmage Friday was at his high school. It was a nice evening for soccer and Camden had a nice cheering section. The game started out a little rough but ended in a 2-2 tie, with Camden playing the entire game.

Today we had our Key Family Christmas celebration. Before we headed over to Melissa's, I made sure to snap a pic of our Christmas tree.

We arrived at the McAnear's home around 3:00 to watch the University of Texas football game before partaking in a yummy dinner from Adriatic Cafe. We then opened gifts starting with the youngest (Casen) opening a gift and ending with the oldest (Grandpa) and then repeating the cycle until all the gifts were opened.

Casen was so excited to receive the Cravebox. 
That boy LOVES snacks!

Money - always the right 
size and color.

Knowing mom likes her hummingbirds,
Melissa got her a feeder she could wear on her 
head so she could see the up close.

Bourbon for Shawn

And Bourbon for Dad.

It was a great day spent with my family. I cherish these moments as they seem so far and few between. 

Basketball and Soccer

Casen's first basketball game was on November 21st against Waller. For home games, the boys are to dress in nice clothes, including nice pants, a button down shirt and a tie. For away games, they are allowed to wear jeans and their team basketball shirt. Casen left home dressed for success. Surprisingly, he was involved in the opening tip-off for his first game. The team all played well, which resulted in a win. 

WWJH for the win!

Stylin' after the game.

Casen's second game of the season was on December 5th in Montgomery. The end result was not favorable, however Casen played well and is continuing to learn how to use his body when defending.

Camden had soccer tryouts the first week of December, right after Thanksgiving break. The coach made some cuts after the first day of tryouts on Monday and then continued with tryouts on Tuesday and during soccer class on Wednesday. After school on Wednesday, the teams were posted. Camden ended up on the JVB team. He was hopeful that he would make JVA, but knew with his injury that might be a stretch. He had mixed emotions about making the JVB team because with making that team, he knew would get a lot of playing time, however he also knew the quality of players was not like what he was used to playing with in club soccer. 

He had his first scrimmage today and I will tell you, the way I now watch him play involves a different level of stress than before. With the increased possibility of his knee dislocating again, every time he plants his left foot, or has hard contact, my heart stops. I am hoping with time, that feeling passes.

I enjoyed seeing Camden and
Cole back on the same team.

Casen had a basketball game on Thursday and then had a tournament in Humble this weekend. He had two games yesterday, of which his team won both of. I was so very grateful they won because that meant they played their first game in the afternoon which allowed both Shane and I to attend Camden's first soccer scrimmage of the season before heading back to Humble for more basketball.

Unfortunately, Casen's team ended up losing both games on Saturday. The team they played in their second game of the day for 3rd place were really good and basically just outplayed our team. Regardless, it has been fun watching Casen and his team play five games over the last three days. Casen had a good time, but it left him rather tired so once we got home, he took a nice nap.