Hallelujah, Everybody Say Cheese...

...Merry Christmas from the family!

One of my new favorite Christmas time songs.

We had a great Christmas here in Colorado and I hope that everyone else did as well. We went down to Grandma and Grandpa Stackpole's on the 23rd (someone's birthday). Sheri and I went out to dinner and a movie which was very nice; Earls for dinner and National Treasure 2: Book Of Secrets for the show.

We stayed over for Christmas Eve and had a nice day down in Littleton. We made our annual trip to "The Kloehwers"; which is a family that puts out a TON of Christmas decorations every year. It is quite the sight.

Russ and Nancy came up to our house for Christmas Day. We had a white Christmas this year, about 5" of the white stuff. Destin was properly spoiled by Santa, both Grandparents, and his Mama and Daddy.

It will be a pretty mellow rest of the year; however, there is another storm rolling into town early tomorrow morning we are bracing for. We plan to head up to our friends Tim and Laura's place for New Years Eve to continue a tradition we've had with them and the Huettls for a few years now.

Highlights In December So Far

Man, with Thanksgiving being so early this year, I thought Christmas would never get here; but it is just around the corner. We've had quite the December.

Sheri had her first annual Christmas cookie exchange party. A bunch of ladies came over to the house; a typical hen party. Destin, Grandpa Stackpole and I hid in the garage for most of it.

She has also been working getting everything set for Christmas. Gifts, Christmas Cards, decorations, food, parties, everything imaginable. We have received a bunch of compliments on all the decorations inside and outside.

Destin packed on some holiday pounds this year. I don't have the exact numbers handy, but he gained close to a pound from the week after Thanksgiving to this past Monday. Wouldn't we all just want to put one pound on during the holidays? It is good for him though.

The botox shots in Destin's legs have settled and we are just completing the first week of his serial casting. This process helps to stretch out the lower part of his legs. He'll get this first set cut off tomorrow morning; the PT people will look at the progress and re-cast. We are planning on 5 week cycle of this.

The good thing is that the casts haven't really slowed him down much. We got some slipper/sock things to help him get a little traction. Children's gave us some boots that go over the hard casts that help out for going outside.

His classmates have gotten a kick of out the casts. They have been very curious and want to help with Destin in class when they can.
Speaking of which, school has been good. Destin will finish his "fall semester" tomorrow with a pajama and movie party; they are going to lounge around and watch The Polar Express.

We are gearing up for a great holiday. We are going to head down to Grandma and Grandpa Stackpole's for Christmas Eve. Then, they are going to come up to our place for Christmas Day.

I will be sure to keep you posted on the rest of our holiday happenings.

Goodbye To Spooky

Kyle & Spook

Uploaded by From The Still on 13 Sep 06, 9.46PM MST.

As the above photo shows Spooky has been our family dog for going on 17 years. He was put to sleep today at 7:30 PM Central Time. He will be sorely missed. The Colorado Hirsch's are glad that we were able to spend some time with him over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Rest In Peace, Spook.

Holiday Catch Up

The holidays are in full swing on the Hirsch household. We were in Tennessee for Thanksgiving. We got some good time with Gran, Pop Pop, Uncle T, and Brandi (Uncle T's girlfriend).

We had some great family time, along with a nice Thanksgiving dinner. Ty, Brandi, Sheri, and I were able to hit the town one night. This was after a concert we attended with Chris Young, Rodney Atkins, Phil Vassar, Taylor Swift, and Charlie Daniels. Charlie Daniels was induced into the Grand Ole Opry. Gran and Pop Pop were in charge of the D-man.

We played real estate agent with Gran one day. It was fun to see her plug into the new profession.

We had a few of my high school buddies over one night. It was great to see them. We'll be seeing more of them in the coming months as their are two weddings to attend (Nate in January, and Tarpy in May). Corey was up from Chattanooga, and Ben came with his two sons.

Destin was completely taken with my parents piano this trip. He has been interested in it on prior visits, but this time he really focused in on playing.

We were able to have our picture take for our Christmas cards which are coming soon to mailboxes near you. We enlisted Pop Pop for the third time and we were definitely happy with the result.

I'm missing a ton of experiences since I'm just sitting down to write about it now, but we had a blast back in Nashville.

Sheri has completely decorated the house for Christmas already. We got the tree up and trimmed as well as lights on the house. We have a full schedule as always this December, so stay tuned for more updates.