December Review

Here it is New Year's Eve and I haven't blogged much.

We've settled in nicely in our house. We bought a Douglas Fir right after Thanksgiving and thoroughly enjoyed it. I doubt our little artificial tree will get much more use. Emma learned to bypass my series of increasingly repelling Christmas Tree blockades.

Emma crawls in earnest, "walks" with help, pulls up on the furniture and gets around on that. She has four teeth, is able to stand for a couple seconds at a time, and puts things in her mouth. She eats cheerios, yogurt, waffles, mashed potatoes, rice, the and the soft parts of my dinner. She doesn't like my attempts at home-made baby food, but rather prefers my food.

Lizzy is in an imaginative stage. She loves to wear dresses and wanted glass slippers for Christmas. She plays well alone and is often having conversations with her babies or with nobody at all. Last week she got Emma to a standing position and then tried to get her to join in on Sleeping Beauty's waltz.

After the flurries of last week melted a wee bit, we rented a car and drove to Missouri so we could spend Christmas with my Dad. My sister joined us the day after and we had a marvelous time. Sunday, with slick roads and Missouri snow sticking to the ice, we headed out for church. At the first bend in the road, the Tophams' van dropped into a ditch. While the men folk stood out in the snow trying to figure out how to extract a 2-ton van with a 1/4 ton Jeep in ice and snow, Dad got a phone call informing us that church was canceled.

Yep. Two weeks in a row we had church canceled for weather. We went back to Dad's house and had an ad hoc Sunday School and Primary discussion, and AAA came to get the van out.

We had a fabulous visit with family, good food, good presents, lots of talking and playing. The last day in Missouri, Monday, it suddenly became time for us to research cameras. Until we find the right camera at the right price, it'll be old pictures only.

We have had a good month and a good year. The outstanding event for the year was Emma's birth, I think. We have had some nice trips and nice visitors come to see us.

Looking back over the year, I'm grateful. It's been a good year for us.