Christmas in July...We Had a Sizzlin' Time

Stores do it this time of year, so why not the Kempiaks? But to give credit where credit is due…it was our dear close friends the Kellers where the inspiration for this family fun day/night activity was birthed!

On Monday, as many of you know, we celebrated Christmas in July! We discussed it in a family meeting a few weeks ago and the kids couldn’t help contain themselves! They were full of great ideas that we put into the “plan”, however Jon and I kept the actual “date” a secret. We even swapped names for a gift exchange, where as a family we headed to the local dollar store, Dollar Tree, with $1.08 in hand per person, picking out those “can’t resist” gifts, days ahead. Owen bought Baylee a patriotic ceramic duck. Jon bought Nathan a Spiderman inner tube for the pool. Baylee bought Owen Batman socks, Nathan bought me a frame and put a photo of him and me in it, and I bought Jon a box of Little Debbie Snack cakes.


We all woke to Christmas music playing, early Monday morning and quickly began to decorate the small tree we brought in from storage with homemade paper ornaments from the day. We made and decorated Christmas cookies while sucking on left over candy canes, cooked a traditional turkey dinner feast, and exchanged gifts, unveiling our “Secret Santa’s”.






From year's back, I purchased a Reindeer piñata that’s been perched on a high shelf in the garage, so we thought this was the time to use it. We filled it with school supplies (markers, Chapstick, pencils, erasers, etc.). The kids LOVED it!


The plans were to sing Christmas songs by the outdoor campfire, but an electric and dust storm swept through, so we had to set that plan aside and watched a Christmas dvd instead. While eating our cookies we had “not-so-hot cocoa”, had a wonderful discussion, and then decided to end our Sizzlin’ Christmas night with a (late) big splash, in the pool. I’m sure the neighbors (and even you who logged onto our blog) hearing Christmas music, thought for sure this was the last straw and that the Kempiak Party of Five had totally lost it! Lost it…NO, we gained a lot…tons of smiles, laughs, and memories (and possibly a few calories). We now have a new family tradition, Christmas in July!