{Santa was here, and left a little webkinz friend.}

{white Christmas}

{the beginnings of a great photographer…}

{catchin’ up on some zzzzzzz’s . . . I wish I could get in a good nap!}

Merry Christmas!

Snow. Blowing Sideways. Cold outside. Cozy inside. Dinner. Family. Peppermint Pig. Singing songs. Guitar playing. Fondue. Games. The Santa Clause. Santa baiting. Gift wrapping. Gift Assembling. Stocking stuffing. Not much sleeping. Lots of Anticipation.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Here’s our Christmas card that didn’t make it out on time, but is forthcoming (we encountered some unexpected printing delays).

{Shortly after a frustrating phone conversation with my printing company, I received another call from a marketing rep from this same company requesting permission to use this card as a sample at their tradeshows- 20+ shows this year alone. I was quite flattered that they noticed my card out of the thousands they print . . . and they did correct the printing mishap, so my new cards are on their way.}

We had a wonderful holiday- we kept things pretty low key and I like it that way. This morning I am experiencing day two of my Christmsas recovery. The process includes catching up a little on some zzzzzz’s, wading through new toys scattered about as I head to the kitchen to polish off the remaining morsels of homemade goodies, trying to forget how much $$ left our bank accounts in such a short time, and now repeatedly reviewing fun photos that will soon be the main source of our holiday memories.

First I will take to you the first day of Christmas: (dinner, a cousins’ gift exchange and a nativity acted out by the cousins). Here’s a glimpse:

{Beautiful.}

My baby (well, younger) brother graduated from college yesterday. We attended his graduation and of course my camera was there to capture the action. This was definitely the most exciting moment of the day:

{You can just see how the weight lifted off his shoulders has affected him!}

{Here’s M. and his lovely wife D. If you are wondering about the hard-hat, well that was the grand prize for graduates in construction management. She might need it to protect her head if flying, pointy-edged caps happen to rain down.}

These two are moving back east in a couple of weeks. We are surely going to miss having them within an hour distance . . . they are the type of people you just never get enough of. We stayed at their house yesterday for a few hours- Uncle M. built a fort-tunnel out of couch cushions for the girls (and their dog Merlin) to sneak through.

There was much laughter and squealing on the part of baby M. any time Merlin the dog would come running ready to lavish on his friendly dog-kisses. This was M’s first real hands-on (whisker pulling out) encounter with a dog. He was enamored!