a Pillow, a Puzzle and a Party

I had to post a picture of this darling pillow that my sweet neighbor made for me!

Isn't it delightful?

I absolutely love it!  Thanks Amy!

It wouldn't be Christmas time without puzzles.  Usually we have one set up in the basement but Andy surprised us all one night by breaking one out right in the middle of the living room.  We all worked on it at least a little bit and finished it that night :)

The Friday night before Christmas we had our Kidd Family Party.

Abby was sick so she didn't join in on the fun.

And fun it was :)

We started off with Human Hungry Hippos.

Never done it before...thought it was a blast :)

Ben just loved playing with balloons and showing off his shirt and shoes to Grandma.

Only picture of dinner...

Then the talent show...

Matt and I played Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

And Josh and I did Joy to the World

Nativity...

As a closing activity there was a pinata.

Matt whacked it down when it was his turn and all the kids went scrambling...

Lately, Ben's thing has been to curl up, face down on the floor and hang out for a while.  Sometimes he falls asleep and sometimes it seems that he just needs a respite from all that's going on around him. (He will also do it when he doesn't want to do something...like have a diaper change :)

Anyway, it appears that he needed some time to himself here in the middle of the gym while Andy spoke with my brothers and Josh snuck away with his bagful of candy from the pinata.

I should also mention that the patriarch of the family did not come that night.  Grandpa started going down hill really fast 3-4 days before Christmas.  That night of the party hospice was called and we started preparing for what would most likely be the end.

My sweet Grandpa did pass one week later.

He was 93 and had led a magnificent life.

I will do a separate post on this soon.