Thanksgiving Through Christmas

We went to visit dear friends for Thanksgiving.  What a feast and reunion.  Our three families have all seen each other separately, but haven't been all together in 5 years.  It was wonderful!

So then, we had sickness and ear drum ruptures, and all kinds of fun.  We all missed Christmas church because only 1/3 of us were healthy.  We've had a few young, brave friends come over to hang out with us, but we've tried hard to keep the germs to ourselves.

The Penguin actually slept next to the tree.

The cat got to come upstairs.

My husband, King of Stockings.  I do not, apparently, understand what qualifies an item to go into a stocking, or how to pack a stocking.  The kids had fun with the 25 crazy things that were wrapped in 4 hours and unwrapped in 4 minutes.

The first time I've ever had to get out the Phillips screwdriver to free a toy.  They don't call him Cranky the Crane for nothing.

The Penguin drew, stuffed, and sewed this pillow for the Bunny.  She also gave me an origami box stuffed with "Be Nice" Cards, which are the best present I've ever gotten.

The Big Present of the Year

This was really the first Christmas that the Panda really understood what was going on.  He's still much too concrete for any deep understanding of God and what Christmas really means, but he's caught on to how to open a present, he ate bites of dinner, and he talks enough to communicate his opinions.  We've enjoyed lots of new board and video games together, watched Christmas movies, and had a great time as a family.  Our pastor set up a church account to access great video series at Right Now Media for our church, and that has been great while we've been sick.  There's a Peacemaker's series that has started great conversation about some of our biggest areas of family conflict.  Our favorite verse from what we've been listening to:

Proverbs 19:11

Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.