Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great holiday filled with family and friends. I arrived at my mom's new house Sunday evening and was able to see the renovations that have been done and the plans that are still in progress. The house is very nice, and I love the trees and yard.

My brother Bobby, his wife, Katrinka, and kids, Teleya, Lochlan, and Torin, were here when I arrived. I was able to spend time with them on Monday which was great fun. I had never met Torin before. He is a beautiful, sweet, mellow baby boy. Loch is a funny little man. A highlight of the week was when Loch asked me to help him put on his shoes. Teleya is a smart little girl with a good sense of humor. And, thanks to Bobby, she is tough! I had a wonderful time with them.

Christmas Eve was spent with Mom, Ron, Blake, Matt, Andy, and Davie. We had mini build-your-own pizzas and watched "The Nativity." Then Andy and I did a repeat performance of the song we sang at church on Sunday. It was very nice. We had family prayer, then each faded off to sleep one by one. I did help Mom wrap some presents that still needed to be placed under the tree before I went to sleep. I particularly enjoyed wrapping Andy's presents. One had candy cane wrapping paper with a Halloween ribbon and a fat angel baby tag. Another had wrapping paper with flowers and berries, a plaid ribbon, a cherry, a pine cone, and a Woodstock tag. Stylish.

This morning we had the traditional opening of stockings from Santa. Two highlights: a book of funny road signs and a giant blow-up bouncy ball... what do you call them? Well, you sit on them and they have a handle and you bounce. We all got one, and we all enjoyed bouncing on them, hitting each other with them, playing volleyball with them, and being gladiators with them. After stockings, we had scrambled eggs, sausage, and E.O. Rings. Yum! We opened presents - I was elected to be Santa and hand the gifts out. My "secret person" from the family drawing was my mom, and she got me a new laser printer/copier/scanner/fax machine! So cool!

Maggie and Wade arrived with their boys, Cohen and Ethan, later this afternoon. Andy and I enjoyed playing with Cohen on the swings. Cohen convinced Andy to come back and swing in a variety of styles (backwards, standing up, twisting, extra high) by pleading with him, "Uncle Andy, I NEED you!" We also enjoyed peeking in the "haunted, old playhouse" in my mom's yard. According to Cohen it has ghosts, snakes, spiders, cobwebs, and lions in it!


As the evening winds down, people are dropping off to sleep again. I am sorting through the potential plans for the next couple of days and trying to determine what friends and family I might be able to visit and what family activities might be happening. I'm happy to be here, and not just because I hear there are blizzards all week at my house. (By the way, it's been in the 60's and 70's and sunny here. We played on the green grass today in shorts and bare feet. :)