Random Christmas Pictures

Christmas 2008 was celebrated in our new home. It took a lot of time decorating because I didn't know where to put things. But finally the house looked festive just in time for family to arrive. 

These are Christmas morning pictures, we really are

excited to be together, but some are tired:

We are fortunate to have Nicholas and Denise

living close by:

Kendall, Shae and Rhaegan arrived first from

out of town:

Finally Krista and Josh arrived from Dominica:

It's great to finally have them home.

Quinten, Kate and their children were not

able to come this year. We really missed

having them here and look forward to next year.

But we did have two extras; Nicholas' and Denise's foreign

exchange student, Nils and Denise's brother Jeff

were here able to celebrate the holidays with us.

Kendall, Krista and Rhaegan having girl time:

Christmas Eve, Rhaegan couldn't wait to put out a

platter with cookies for Santa and carrots for

the reindeer:

We needed to get out of the house to get some fresh air so we decided to go bowling. We forgot that we were not in New York where there is a "no smoking" law in all public buildings. We looked and looked for a bowling alley that didn't gross us out with the smell of smoke. Finally we found one and had a lot of fun putting our Wii bowling skills into the "real" game.

But with all that was going on, Rhaegan's favorite thing to do was to read books. She had a problem sleeping, 3-5:00am was her typical wake-up time. Many times I would find her downstairs with a light on just reading her books. She felt so grown-up since she could now reach the light switches and did not have to rely on adults to help her.

Hope all of you had a safe and happy New Year's Eve celebration and 2009 will bring a happy and productive year for all of you.