Holiday Fun & Family Visits

Where did December go??

It went by in a blur of creating, baking, hugging, buying, wrapping, snuggling, driving and rushing around. We enjoyed making holiday cutouts with our in house bakery staff. We ended up making 8+ kinds of cookies that we shared and enjoyed throughout the month.

Uncle Bill & Aunt Janis made their annual visit, despite very inclement weather. We really enjoyed the time spent with them and had quite a game night. Candy Land anyone??

We recently purchased this very comfy leather couch. It's rounded (called a media sectional) and HUGE, so that the entire family of five and two other adults can sit on it comfortably. It has two hassocks that are on wheels and are rounded too, so that they can be turned around for additional seating and game playing. They also open for storage, which is an incredible feature for the organized minded individual like me. Eric likes that he can grab a hidden blanket without moving his feet, and he is still tying to ply me with ideas about refrigerated beer storage. :)


This year we took our family photo on the new couch and finally, thankfully, did not have to say "still waiting for our China girl". She is here and real and really happy about it.


On Christmas Eve we went to Grandma Marion & Grandpa Tom's. Both of Tom's children were there with us, Kate & Terry.

Megan took this picture of me and Mary Alice. She's pretty good with the camera!

After dinner, Matthew played the Xylophone at our church's Christmas Eve service:



Our Christmas Morning Tree

Our Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls

Megan's reaction to Christmas morning was very laid back and she made breakfast for herself before opening any presents!

We had lots of snow in December!

Here are Linda & Megan at the top of Mt. Everest.

Okay, it's just our local sledding hill, but it looks good, doesn't it.

After Christmas, we traveled to Pennsylvania to visit Eric's brother's family. The cousins had a great time together.

Here is the cookie man!!

Calling for Pizza....

Ian and Matthew made this Domino Structure. It didn't fall exactly the way they wanted, but it looks pretty cool.

And here is Megan's beloved Miss Elizabeth, which she pronounces "babah beth", who teaches her Kinderdance twice a week.

A major accomplishment of the month was the sending of a care package to Chaoyang, Megan's orphanage. I sent a detailed photo album with lots of pictures of Megan at home and from our brief visit with the orphanage staff in China, along with captions in Chinese, some candy and a letter telling them about her progress so far. I was lucky enough to find a woman at the local Chinese school who was willing to translate the letter and captions for me into Chinese. I tried to use Babel fish, but I had no idea if the translation was accurate or not and I did not want to risk it. I wanted to send them all kinds of outgrown clothing that we had gathered up for the children, but the post office said the cheapest way to send it would be $81 dollars!!! I opted for the smallest possible box and it was still $40..... because of the candy. Next time I will just send pictures. Maybe they will send me the e-mail address and I can send them that way.

Well, I am wondering who is still reading this blog...... Is it just my mom???? Please consider leaving me a comment if you are out there, just so I know...... :) and have a very Happy and Healthy New Year.