Sweet Smell of Christmas - Day 2

My sister Jenni and her family came to Denver unexpectedly this weekend. They are in the process of adopting a child from another country and the adoption agency is here and was hosting a conference. We met up with Jenni, Kendrick, Keenan and Naomi Saturday night in Cherry Creek and had dinner at Zaidy’s Deli.

I love my sister, and I dislike that I never get to spend very much time with her. It was a nice visit. Her children? ADORABLE!! Do you know what her children absolutely are crazy about? Their cousins Paul and Matthew. The kids were literally hanging on the boys through the meal. When Naomi’s meal came her Dad asked if she needed help cutting up her pancakes, she told him no and gave him a look that said, “Dad! I am a big girl, I don’t need your help!” But then one minute later she batted those beautiful brown eyes and handed Paul her knife and fork and he cut up her pancakes for her.

Matthew and Keenan are almost exactly 3 years apart and some years the two of them struggle to get along, but this was not one of those times. They chatted all through the meal, so much so that Keenan’s dinner was largely untouched. Although, he did help himself liberally to Matthew’s french fries.

At some point Keenan and Naomi gave my boys their Christmas gifts for this year. Each boy got a gift card for Barnes & Noble in a gift bag with holiday chocolates. Keenan had prepared Matthew’s bag and it was stuffed so full it could barely be closed at the top. Keenan swears it only has about 8 of each type of candy, but every time he told Matthew that he winked at him, which makes us believe he may have been overly generous with his favorite cousin. Naomi prepared Paul’s and there were EXACTLY 8 of each candy, and those 8 candies were all wrapped n the same color foil. Naomi wrote the card herself and was sure to tell Paul that she did it all herself. I am not sure whose smile was sweeter, the giver or the recipient.

When I tucked my Matthew in he summed it up perfectly, “Cousins make Christmas awesome!”