Happy Holidays

Seasons Greetings and all that stuff!

We've had a fun week of holiday celebrating. The kids and I had a little Christmas brunch with friends from our playgroup. Our MOPS group had a holiday PJ party. N and I got to have a date night for the officers' Christmas bash at the Museum of Natural history while neighbor P watched the kiddos on Saturday. And on Sunday we were part of the cast of our church's Night in Bethlehem.

Little C played baby Jesus, following in his Mama's footsteps three decades earlier. He was a sweet and content little lord and savior and all of the little kids wanted to meet him after each performance. Our Sunday school class constructed the manger and provided the actors. Our little Miss L couldn't stand to watch from the sidelines, so she wandered into the manger a few times and we just pretended she was an angel in pink polar fleece. We had live animals, a marketplace and hot soup and bread. It was actually cold that night, too, which made for a very Christmas-like experience. Earlier that evening we enjoyed some of the festivities of our neighborhood's luminaria night. It was so nice to be able to stroll to all of these events in our little village.

We also unwrapped some early Christmas gifts from family and friends who sent them to be opened before our departure this Friday for the west coast. We look forward to being with my parents on the heels of their flood tragedy. They are faring well and have moved into a temporary home given to them by an acquaintance while they search for a more permanent arrangement. They continue to be blessed by the love and hard work of volunteers, family and friends. This will, however, be a very strange Christmas as we'll be celebrating our first one together outside of our long-time home. It will be sweet none-the-less.

We hope it's a great few weeks for all of you!