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Wednesday Update: 12/26/07

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful and very FULL Christmas weekend…and it was great!!! We were here, there, and everywhere visiting, eating, hugging, talking, laughing, eating, eating, and eating some more!!! Saturday we headed up to McCallsburg for the afternoon at my Grandma Betty and Grandpa Gene’s house. It was a full house with cousins, Aunts, and my wonderful Uncle Larry! We had a nice time hanging out there with everyone. My parents hadn’t gotten to see everyone for a while, and it was good to have them there! Sunday we had some of Matt’s family over to our place…his Aunt Jan and Uncle Denny from the Chicago area were in town for the holiday with their daughter Jessica and her husband, so they all stopped off at our place to meet up with Matt’s parents, sister, and grand parents. It was a full house at our place! We munched on goodies and talked throughout the afternoon, showing them pictures of the new house and catching up. As we lay in bed Sunday night, we couldn’t help but wonder…is it bad that we didn’t eat anything but cookies and chex mix all day? Hmm…still pondering that one!
Monday we packed up the car again and headed up to Roland to Hope and Chad’s for our traditional Christmas Eve with my parents and of course Meghan and Matthew. We enjoyed driving up and back home WITHOUT having white knuckles and driving 45 on the interstate (which is what we had to do on Saturday night…and a few weeks ago when my parents were back for Meghan’s birthday). We had a blast opening presents with the family…the kids are always so fun to watch open, even though Matthew was a little distracted by some of his gifts. Mom and Dad got him a little black cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a guitar…SO cute!! Of course Meghan got plenty of clothes and toys as well. It was a nice quiet (if that’s possible with two kids) day!
Tuesday we got up early and got things ready for our usual Christmas with Matt’s family at our place. I roasted turkey again this year…it is so nice to have that turkey smell permeating our house! We were joined by Matt’s parents, grandparents, sister and Aunt Linda and cousin Heather from Michigan. It was another great day of laughter and good food! We even played a (pathetic) round of Trivial Pursuit. Is it just me, or is that game just impossible? We resorted to speed play, but my team (namely Matt and Lissa) kept giving me the evil eye as I tried to coax the other team into giving the right answers. I wasn’t CHEATING…or GIVING them the answers…just helping them reach the right conclusion!!! Either way, eventually Lissa wouldn’t let me read the answers!! Needless to say, we lost. I argued that I didn’t want to play ALL NIGHT long…and Matt said ‘if that’s what it takes to win!’ Sore losers!
Today I was back at work…and I’ll admit it was hard to drag my tired bones out of bed this morning and make the familiar trek back to work after such a nice, long and busy weekend. My cheeks are still sore from all the smiling, my throat is a little sore from all the laughing and talking, my tummy is a little grumbly from all the sweets and muchies…it didn’t know what to think of the cereal I had for breakfast today (what IS that!?)…my camera battery is dead from all the pictures I took, the house is a bit of a disaster, the laundry is overflowing, the car is filthy from all the winter driving, and the garbage can is chuck full of wrappings and scraps of food…we collapsed last night, in a pile of contentment and joy. We had such a busy weekend, but it was so full of love, family, and good stuff. I can’t say enough how very grateful we are for our families…they continue to support us in all of our endeavors, accept us – faults and all, and love, love, love us. We are so blessed!!
We are looking forward to the New Year and all the possibilities it holds for us…so many wonderful things are coming soon, and we are just holding on to each other and our faith that it will be a good, good year. I pray for each of you a wonderful holiday season, and that this coming year will be great for you as well. I hope that our paths cross, and we can all take some time to celebrate LIFE together!!!

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