McKenna Family

It's hard to believe my Abi is now 12 and already a Young Woman! We couldn't be more proud of our sweet little girl. I think the best quality about Abi is her heart. Even when she was a little girl, she had this big heart and wanted to be a friend to everyone. One thing I have always admired about Abi is that she is kind to everyone. It is second nature to her to find someone that needs a friend and be that friend. She is very sensitive to the needs of others and doesn't follow the crowd if it means making someone else feel left out or excluded. I've watched her for many years and always wondered if that characteristic would wear off eventually but she is true to herself.....that is who she is. She is very loving and kind and loves to see people smile. She is an amazing student and works hard in school. She is musically talented and truly enjoys playing the piano....although at times the practicing gets to her a little. Abi's priorities are exactly where they need t...

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the special spirit and magic that we feel in our hearts. This year was even more special and complete with little Meili being home with us. What sweet moments we have had as we have watched her experience many new things during the Christmas season. One of her favorite things included the Christmas lights. I remember one night Russel and I got the Christmas trees out (YES we have fake ones), so that we could decorate them the following Monday for family night. When Meili got up I talked to her a little bit about the Christmas tree and then turned on the lights. Her eyes lit up and she started clapping. From then on, she would go around and plug in any garlands, trees, etc. that needed their lights on....even in the middle of the day. It was too cute and I knew she could feel that special spirit that we all feel at this time of the year. Christmas morning, the kids of course were up at the crack of dawn (well before that too but we would...

Every year we spend Christmas Eve at my parents' house. It's just tradition....the Hansen family party is always Christmas Eve. We have the traditional dinner and have many traditions that we look forward to each year. We have many recipes that we love to make on Christmas Eve and add new ones occasionally too. We have the kids act out the nativity which is always quite comical and special at the same time. And of course we always do the pajama thing too. We had a wonderful time and headed back to Logan just in time to set out cookies and milk for Santa. P.S. Meili wanted to be the wiseman......I think the simple silver crown was more appealing that being wrapped up in yards of fabric :)

This is a tradition that we started last year and we love it. We decided we wanted to do something that was for just our little family. Even though grandma and grandpa live close, we really wanted this time to be a focus on just the kids. So we let them pick where we eat and then we find a hotel to stay in for the night which they think is fabulous. The lights were absolutely breathtaking as always and the kids love to wander to each of the different nativity scenes and guess what country they are from. Last year was bitterly cold but this year was sooo nice.....almost balmy.....well almost. We got back to the hotel around 9:30 and the kids got in PJs and turned the TV on just in time to start The Polar Express. It was perfect timing and the kids really enjoyed seeing it again.....for some reason it's more fun at a hotel. We had a great breakfast at the hotel the next morning and then Russel had to run back to Logan to see some patients. But Grandpa was awesome and came a...

Every year we try to do some sort of Gingerbread House Tradition. It started many years ago when we lived in Kansas City. We had some very close friends and she actually made the gingerbread houses and then she would have us over to decorate them. Since we both ended up in Arizona, we continued on with that tradition. We have some great memories from those years and have continued the tradition on with our own family. Granted, I do NOT make the gingerbread. :) This year we had a gingerbread house for the girls to decorate and one for the boys. Since Josh wasn't able to be there, we elected him as the judge. He was very fair and gave the girls the best put together gingerbread house and gave the boys the coolest gingerbread house (complete with lego guys staking it out).

Abi and Nick did a great job at the Christmas recital this year. Nick has two friends in the neighborhood that take piano with him and they are the cutest little things. It was a duet recital but Carol and Mary (our wonderful piano teachers) arranged it so that all three boys played together. It was awesome! Abi did a wonderful job playing Away in A Manger with her cousin McKenna. They were pretty dang adorable themselves. We didn't even plan it and they totally matched each other. Very cute. Usually we have lots of pictures but for some reason we only got Nick and Abi together. I guess we just did video of the actual duets.

Russel's office always has a great Christmas party. It's something we always look forward to. This year we decided to have it at our house. It was so fun and it's always nice to get to know the spouses a little better and enjoy a more casual environment. We had a wonderful dinner catered by Hamilton's, played some games, and then made gingerbread houses. Oh and I can't forget to mention....in case you can't tell....we had an ugly sweater contest. Russel won one of the prizes....although he can't take full credit since it was the office manager, Wendy, who came to the rescue and brought him a sweater to wear. :) What a great group Russel works with.