Happy Christmas!

OH WOW! That's how I felt when I realized that Christmas had snuck up on me again, just as it does every year.

First and foremost, I wish to send out a Christmas greeting to all my friends and acquaintances. My husband astutely pointed out to me that we should be focusing on that important little family from so long ago, perhaps, instead of giving an update about a cute little family in 2008. So, I will say that we are grateful for Christ's birth and the blessings of his gospel. We pray that everyone will embrace his offering and make it the focus of the season's celebration.

Having said that, I know it wouldn't be fair not to let you have a peek into our lives. The fall foliage in these photos belies the fact that we've already had 2 days of school cancelled for snow! Nevertheless, this is our most comfortable snow-removal season to date since we discovered the less-than-environmentally-friendly joys of snowblowing. (or snow throwing...depending on your phraseology.) I get a kick out of telling my kids, "when I was a girl...we didn't HAVE to wear snowpants to school every day, because the windchill never got to -20 F." I know that's a little backward...I should make up some stories about my trials to balance it out.

Well, the boys have interesting trials of their own. Guy, 5, loves his kindergarten class. I've seen the many friendly notes that he writes to his friends . One in particular read: Emma, do you want to play at my house? Have your mom call my mom. From Guy.

Sadly, Guy related that when he gave the note to Emma, she showed it to her friend on the playground. They both giggled, crumpled it up, and ran away. I didn't know if I could honestly promise Guy that these problems would go away once they learned to read...or not.

Xander, 8, has enjoyed going to Boy Scouts this year. He especially enjoyed decorating his own raingutter regatta boat and pinewood derby car. He says Art is his favorite subject at school, although since they teach snowshoeing and rollerblading in P.E., that might come in at a close second. I'm thrilled to have a buddy to rollerblade with, and look forward to the near future when maybe I can have a buddy to swing dance with as well. (He hasn't agreed to that, yet!)

Zoe, 3, enjoys her short moments as an only child. She has many opportunities to go places with me and plays with kids at every turn. One of her recent favorites is swimming (in the 91 degree warm pool) with her friend, also named Zoe. It's amazing that when one child is a bit nervous to try something, a little positive peer pressure is amazingly helpful! Now they're both doing amazing things. Zoe also reminds me that she's a unique person...I try not to get frustrated that she seems to be color blind, because at least she can really keep a beat.

Doug whips the world of Biochemistry into shape each day, and then comes home to teach us all a bit of chess wisdom. The boys are quick learners and I'm sure they'll put their mama to shame sometime this next year.

Doug also gets his kicks biking and running... we're resolving to get the boys involved in some races in 2009. Check back and see if we followed through!

I can tell you that I spend my time teaching swim lessons, teaching piano lessons, homeschooling on snow days, playing racquetball, and pursuing a variety of quirky pursuits. You don't need to read about it in this post, though, because I suspect you know my blog address. One of my quirky pursuits in 2009 will be frequent blogging, let's hope.

Merry Christmas, all! We treasure your friendships and hope our paths will cross soon!