An Old Fashioned Christmas

It was just the four of us this year. We spent Christmas in our cozy home. Daddy was up sometime way before dawn and mommy thought she heard one of the kids get up so she sprang out of bed and rushed downstairs as she hoped not to miss the wonderful surprised looks on her babies' faces. She got downstairs only to find daddy not-so-patiently waiting for the kids to get up. He was pacing as he waited for his boy to finally come downstairs at a unusually late time of 8:00 am. Shelby was up soon after. Harlan didn't ask for any particular item this year but he was happy to see his pile of treasures left by the man in the big red suit and family and friends. Grandparents, Auntie Janet and cousin Mikey gave the kids lots of clothes, treasures from Europe, a LeapPad and too much more to mention. Harlan was excited to find that Santa left him a kid version of a digital camera (he always wants to use mommy's), lots of dress-up costumes for a knight, a police officer, a wizard, a king, a cowboy complete with chaps, and Indiana Jones which looks more like a leather biker jacket He also found toy guns and swords under the tree, Operation (game), Twister (which he spun the wheel as mom & dad played). You really need to be in shape to play that game. Yoga has not prepared me for it.

We and thankful for all of the goodies from everyone (thank you Great Grandma Hendryx for sending the sweets especially Karen's favorite 7-layer cookie bars) and we were excited to see so many Christmas cards this year and lots with update letters and family photos. It is so good to hear from everyone even if it is one time a year. Please keep them coming. Karen almost can't wait to get te mail each day this time of year.

It snowed a few days after Christmas and Harlan rushed out to catch the huge snowflakes on his tongue. Here he is plopping down to make a snow angel. Press the play button to watch the video now. Don't miss the ending!

Catching snowflakes on his tongue...

Here is our little Snow Puff.

Here, Mommy and Shelby are getting ready to go to a Christmas party. Shelby was a little Christmas angel in her red suit with tights and built-in shoes.

We took Harlan sledding this week just after a light snow and his favorite "sled" was a piece of wall paneling that someone left at the top of the hill. Forget the expensive sleds, Harlan is just fine going down the hill on roadside junk! He gets that from his daddy. I guess it is good that we have two penny pinchers in the house because Mommy and Shelby counter their efforts.

Harlan's Redneck Sled

We hope that you had a Merry Christmas and that you spent it with family and friends. My motto this year is a cliche but so meaningful and that is... to enjoy the simple things in life. We are healthy, we have two beautiful and healthy kiddos, we live out in the country surrounded by trees, crops and cattle and we still have our jobs. What more should we ever want?