Christmas 2008

Christmas day is here! Our living room has been invaded by three very large bicycles, a train set, a K'nex roller coaster, and assorted electronics, not to mention candy wrappers and toothbrushes, courtesy of GranMartha. Five kids makes for a lot of wrapping paper! John has his work cut out for him with those bikes, and I've spent the better part of my day uploading, downloading and troubleshooting all the electronic paraphernalia. But isn't this exactly what every parent hopes to see on Christmas morning? Philip wasn't at all excited about that remote control airplane. Dad apparently knew just what to get. He knew what to get me too: a portable speaker charger for my Zune! Yea, John! If I had known how much I would enjoy my Zune, I would have asked for one long, long ago. John got a new chiminea, since he finally burnt the other to a crisp and made it collapse (the new one is cast-iron). Becca almost cried with joy over her new pink mp3 player (sorry iPod- Sansa is all the joy without the price!) and Nathanael practically fell to his knees the first time I installed the Star Wars game on his new Leapfrog Didj. May the Force be with you, my son.

We also enjoyed some time with friends today, and last night, a fabulous Christmas Eve turkey dinner, with just our family. Christmas 2008 has been a very fun season:

We walked in the Christmas parade with John Mark's 4-H Teen club (brrrr, it was cold, but small-town parades are the best!)

We had a Christmas concert by the Children's Chorus and Symphony (Philip volunteered for a speaking role; you'll have to take my word that this photo is of him, since we were in the balcony): A nativity play at church (Look- Philip again! He's such a wallflower) Becca taught the kids the songs and led them during the play, and she did such a fabulous job! Those are some pretty bored-looking sheep, are they not? But they were good sheep, and that's what was important.

And last Thursday night, we had the Christmas piano recital and dinner. All the kids performed, and John Mark and I played a cute arrangement of "Frosty the Snowman" as a duet.

I spent a good deal of time driving the older kids to all their social engagements earlier in the month, but John took some vacation over the past few days and the two of us have had some fun, impromptu shopping dates- with some great bargains to boot! And this weekend, Grandma and Grandpa will be in town for even more merriment. We hope that your season has been a merry one too.

Merry Christmas, everyone!