Whooshh...(the sound that December made as it went by)

We have some choice photos and small video "vignettes" from December to share. They are still on the cameras, so I'll get them onto the 'puter in the next days. GREAT month.... which is appropo (sp?) for another wonderful year. To say we are grateful for all our blessings is an understatement.

Highlights of this month:

1. 2 new baby boys in our "honorary cousin" circles- congrats to Padillas and Brittons! (we have an extra soft spot in our hearts for baby boys who arrive in December)
2. First snow Wed 12/5
3. New large HD TV which we thought we'd save for Christmas to start using, it was our present to ourselves. But that was ludicrous- it came out of the box and stayed. So now we'll just get our new HD equip and service add-on, compliments of Chris' parents for xmas gift. To round that out, we have a new corner media stand to support the "new look." Talk about dreading January credit card bills.
4. Our #5 anniversary- "date weekend" in NYC 12/8- short one-nighter trip, took train up and back (NYC area pals- sorry we didn't connect. It was brief 'parental twosome escape' time). Logan had QT with Graham Grands where he was social butterfly, attending two family parties w/o us.
5. L's 24 hour stomach bug, complete with one of those "2 AM trips to CVS for Pedialyte & saltines" I'd read about. As it turns out, white grape juice & water fixed him up real well after some hours. Oh well, a check in the box, we made it to 2yrs old before one of those kind of all-nighters. Not sure why I thought the OTHER kids in daycare would be taken down daily with this bug, but not us.
6. Our actual 12/14 anniversary was spent with pizza out "for three", then picking out Christmas tree @ Home Depot. (We supported Wall Street one more year; we'll move onto local church lots in 2008 when L is more engaged in process).
7. Chris' office party- and party it was- 12/15 @ the Nat'l Building Museum in DC.
8. Few extra days off for me to get all the holiday tasks done and burn some time off so I don't lose it ("it" = either the vaca time or my mind)
9. Innumerable trips to Target and other stores, but most frequented was my beloved amazon.com. Delivery guys got to know my parents' house well with all that I shipped there.
10. Large baking project for neighborhood cookie distribution. In the middle of the project, I didn't want to do it anymore, like far too many of my other projects. I prevailed and got them bagged up/out the door and everyone was appreciative.
11. Logan's Birthday- cookies for daycare party 12/21 (more baking), combined Christmas and bday celebration with Graham Grands on 12/22. Among other presents, he rec'd his new 'high tech German tank' tricycle (as G-Dad calls it) from the Grahams.
12. Hopped in car same afternoon (12/22) and drove to Atlanta. Baby book entry for this day will emphasize the many celebrations held around his #2 bday, not the 11.5 hours in the car.
13. GA trip- lots of playtime with Tobin Grands, Acey and Uncle Tom F., Aunt L and Uncle P and ESPECIALLY Noah. The two boys played very well together, better than ever before. Setting the stage for their antics as they grow up and I hope a special lifelong friendship between the cousins. Sun 12/23 evening was L's bday celebration, and moved onto Christmas on 12/24. Mom and Dad had their annual Christmas Eve open house with Wilson, Ratner, Hlad, Flynn & Slayton families joining Tobin/Graham/Arnold/Fensters clan.

I just want to know what happened to the resolve of "this will be a slimmer christmas, the boys really don't care about christmas presents yet, we won't do alot, we'll all just be together" because if you looked in our trunk as we [tearfully] pulled out of the driveway in D'woody- you'd think Santa SURELY didn't get that memo. (Ok, I was really to blame too. Spoiled our kid rotten in my shopping trips this fall!)

Now here we are, 3 more days in 2007. These are the favorite slow days at work while all else are still on holiday: catch-up time and little traffic, virtually no calls/emails and leave on time, soon after 5p. We're thinking about what we'll do on NY Eve, who we'll have over (maybe some neighbors if they still like us after the cookies) and one last wonderful mid-week holiday from work for 1/1.

AND FOOTBALL!!! Storing up now, we'll be missing it so much come February~

Another "slim on words, rich in pictures" post to follow.

Happy 2008 to all!
Love, us