Well, Christmas has come and gone. I can't believe that Anika is already one year old! The time has flown. Some of you that check this website got a Christmas letter from me (sorry it was running late), so some of this information might be redundant. I'll try to keep it interesting.
We found out what was bothering Michael with the night sweats. He came down with a full blown case of mono! The weeks leading up to Christmas were miserable for him. He got the sore throat and then he was in so much pain he got a prescription for Vicodin, and it didn't much help. Finally, they figured out that he had an abscessed tonsil in addition to the mono. They gave him antibiotics and after the abscess ruptured and drained, he finally started to feel better. That wasn't until the Wednesday before Christmas. We were worried that he would be suffering through the holidays. Luckily he is feeling well enough to go to work. He is just tired now. I'm so thankful that it wasn't something worse...because my mind started to wander when we didn't know what was wrong!
I had December full of activities! One for each day in fact. My grand idea last year of the "activity advent" was well loved again this year. The girls got to pick an activity each day as they counted down to Christmas morning. The activities included calling and visiting great grandparents, making crafty gifts, baking, Christmas tea parties, movies, stories, etc. They loved it. Thankfully they were very forgiving if we couldn't get to the activity every day.
My favorite festivity this year was our trip to the retirement home. We had some kids over to make some simple ornaments, then took them to the "grammas and grampas" that live in the home near our house. Kelby screamed, "I'M SO EXCITED!", when I told her we were going to deliver their ornaments. She said, "I'm going to say Merry Christmas AND Happy Holidays to everyone!" I was so happy to see them learn about giving. I was also very proud when they went through their stuffed animals and picked out a bunch they could live without. We took them down to the family shelter. Tegan was a little sad when she realized they would be gone forever, but she calmed down knowing they would go to make some other children happy. Of course they were delighted when Santa replaced theirs with new and bigger puppies and Carebears! (They definitely needed to make the room in their bedroom.)
Santa even visited us at our house this year. He was in the neighborhood, then he headed to our church's Christmas party. He had asked if he could stop in to see our special girls. Mrs. Claus came too. Tegan is crafting thank you snowflakes for Mrs. Claus right now. The girls were in awe. Surprisingly, Anika didn't cry or be afraid even though she wouldn't sit on his lap at Mike's company party.
I enjoy this time of year so much. Our Christmas is pretty simple because we don't really have a lot of gifts to buy. My energy was put into letting others know we care and into teaching the girls about loving others, giving, and the real reason for Christmas. The effort paid off.
On Christmas Eve, we drove up to find snow. Mike was feeling well enough to go. We did it last year, and I have a feeling it will be a new tradition. I got the girls all the required attire, so they were toasty and warm. It takes us about 1 1/2 hours to get up to the ski resort. There is some nice sledding hills up there. All the way up we were worried there wouldn't be any snow, but the mountain didn't disappoint. The hardest thing about the trip was getting Kelby to go home. They were in the snow for about 2 hours. Even Anika was out in the weather. Mike took it easy and just watched us sled for the most part. Yes, even I went down the hill on the sled. It was great! That evening we got my parents hooked up with a webcam so they could watch the girls open all the Morrow presents. Mike got them the webcam for Christmas, so they'll be able to check in on the girls every now and then. The girls loved being able to see "Grampa Santa" on the computer. (Dad grew out his beard and got a Santa suit and makes a great Santa.) The rest of our Christmas eve was relaxing with Michael going to bed at about 9:00 pm.
Christmas morning was very nice. We got the girls up at about 6:30 am, since we were already awake. Santa had brought them an indoor jumper trampoline which has turned out to be a hit! He also brought them toy cars (just like they asked for) and big Carebears. We opened the stockings and then made a tasty breakfast for us all. Then we finished up opening presents. Kelby had asked for a puppy costume, but didn't find it under the tree and was a little disappointed. It was impossible to find a puppy costume at this time of year, but luckily my friend Julia and snatched up a deal on a pink poodle hood and tail, so I had that set aside. Once I brought out that puppy costume, Kelby was so happy and remained a pink poodle for the rest of the day! I am planning to sew the girls a little puppy and kitty costume, but that had to wait until after Christmas. We went over to Mike's parent's house at about 10:30 am to open even more presents. The girls had so much fun over there playing with their cousins all day. Mike got some of his family to play poker with him while I put together a puzzle. It was a nice day.
I love Christmas, but I also love when it is over and I can relax a bit. My friends have started up knitting and I wanted to learn, but I had to wait until after the holiday. Julia made me a scarf and got me knitting needles for Christmas. Then, Kelby wanted a scarf so bad that I sat down and figured it out yesterday. Knitting is a fun, relaxing, and rewarding craft. I'm working on Tegan's scarf today.
I've also started in on my organizing! I always do this every year. The whole house gets reorganized. I started in by creating a "laundry room" for myself by separating a spot off from the rest of the garage with big cabinets. I'm so excited to not have to look at the rest of the garage when I do my laundry. It won't be much warmer out there, but it was a much cheaper and easier solution than building a wall.
Anika's birthday was yesterday, but we didn't really celebrate except by going out to dinner. We are going to have the Wright family over on New Year's Day for dinner, so I thought that I would have cake and ice cream for her that night. She is almost walking. She takes steps along the couch and sometimes lets go and takes steps. Also, she's getting a little naughty and keeps getting into things she's not supposed to. This is making life a little more difficult for me, but only because she had been sooo easy up until now.
I get to start a writing class in January and I can't wait! Maybe you'll see the fruit of that class on this website in better writing on my part. It may make me a little busy, but I'm excited about it.
I hope that you all have enjoyed your Christmas. Have a happy New Year! God bless.
