A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!
The Christmas season is always a little crazy around here. This year, December 25 approached with lightning speed; we barely had enough time to go shopping for the kids (and then shopping again when a check showed up from my mom and her husband) and show up for the few things we were committed to do. Somewhere in there I sang with the kids at church (ages 3 up through 5th grade), worked the Malaysia support shift, showed up for the clean-up day/office party. We also spent time on Christmas Eve with our adopted family, the Leverances (since our own families are so far away). The girls always enjoy getting together for the traditional Christmas songs, followed of course by the gifts.
On Christmas morning, I had the privilege to sing backup vocals for my good friend Eric Leverance – yep, same family – for our church service. We sang a few traditional carols and some worship songs two the accompaniment of either 2 guitars or a guitar and a mandolin. The service was followed by cake and a choice of coffee or hot chocolate; Happy Birthday Jesus!
We got home by about noon and did our own family gift giving. The girls got a lot of what they wanted, and a few things they didn’t ask for but loved anyway. Of course, this ran over lunch time and into nap time, so things got a little tense. Not my idea of a pleasant Christmas day, but a little sleep for everyone helped. For dinner we did our traditional Christmas dinner at Chef Chu’s Chinese restaurant.
First thing Sunday morning we packed up and headed off to the U.P. to visit grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. This all happened from Sunday to Tuesday, almost non-stop, but since all of us were suffering from a cold to a greater or lesser degree, we took it easy on Wednesday. On Thursday, Mercedes got to go with cousin Hanna to see “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” and Regan and Shaelin got to each pick out a movie from Blockbuster to watch. We had discussed leaving on Thursday originally but the weather took a turn for the worse, so instead we got everything ready to go and packed it in the van on Friday morning. The ride home was mostly uneventful, except for a nasty fatal accident that had closed the freeway for several hours before we arrived in the Green Bay area and forced traffic onto the streets.
So, we’re back home. We’re buried in stuff. Time to start digging out. At least the warm weather earlier in the week took care of most of the snow and ice on the driveway!
May the coming year be full of fresh opportunity and no regrets for you.