Tis the season to be jolly

Fa,la,la,la,la,la,la....I did it! I made my first entry and it worked. I feel like a pro.

Now I can share a little about our Christmas season. Can you believe Christmas has come and gone. I slightly remember it being November and now December has come and gone. Time flies. This December was festive and fun for the Friddlefour.

Alyssa really loves decorating. We got our tree the first weekend in December, I hauled out all of my ornaments and Alyssa carefully unwrapped each and every one of them. I must have 50 or so hand blown ornaments, that I treasure. Alyssa has become very fond of them as well. She helped to find the perfect place on the tree for each of them. I had to take a mental picture of her and the ornaments (because our camera was broken). The whole time she was in the middle of the decorations I thought "this would make the best scrapbook page". I guess there is always next year.

Speaking of next year, Alyssa insists that next year we have Christmas lights on the outside of our house. She said more than once this season "our house is so boring without lights". We don't have any outside electrical outlets, making it a bit tricky to hang lights without feeling a bit sabotaged by extension cords. But maybe next year we can talk Chad into trying his hat at hanging lights. We will keep you posted on that one.

To Believe or not to believe, Alyssa really struggled with the notion of Santa this year. She's only 5 for crying out loud. But her best friend Amber who lives across the street doesn't believe in Santa and made it very difficult for Alyssa to hold onto the idea that there really is a Santa. We just told Alyssa you must "Believe to Receive". I think she did her best to Believe and Santa came through, he brought her that basketball hoop she really wanted...and a Barbie. Good thing she mailed the letter to him!

Mr. Owen was quite taken by Santa Claus. We visited him once at the Long Beach Pharmacy right after Thanksgiving. I will just say...neither kids would sit on Santa's lap, or go near him. We all had to be in the picture and Owen was crying. Owen did come around though, he talked himself into "liking Santa". He would say things like "Santa's a nice guy" or "Santa's fake". By the 24th, he found himself dancing with the "fake" Santa at Grandma TT's and Papa John's.

Owen was featured in the Friddlefour Christmas card. For those of you that got one, feel lucky. He is our star performer. All I can say is : Boys will be Boys. If you didn't receive Owen's card, you might have received Alyssa's card, she is quite the artist and I believe she captured all the treasures of the season, an angel, a wreath, a manger, a candy cane and a tree.

Chad and I delighted in all the joys of the season especially the following:

*Time off

* Emily finished her 5th of 6th courses she's taking for her credential program.

*Chad's 32nd Birthday (even though he had to get up at 5:00 am to go to his sister's to get medicine for Owen)

*Seeing our family and connecting with Lacy and Justin.

*Looking at lights around the neighborhood.

*Getting a new camera, thanks Chad!

*Making bread for the neighborhoods...and delivering it, even though no one answered their door.

*Papa John who looks like Santa.

*Making dinner for Grandma Grape (Great Grandma Millie and Poppo Ceglowski)

*Hearing from friends we hadn't talk to in a while.

*Progressive Dinner with our small group.

*Celebrating the birth of that baby Jesus.

We couldn't have asked for a better holiday season.