Happy Merry

Another Christmas come and gone. It's always a time for pondering. I had a ball this season getting things ready. One, it was such a blessing to be able to do things (last year we were waiting for the twins to come and hoping there'd be some of me left to take care of them). Two, since Katie is now 2 and a half, she was old enough to be excited about things and young enough to love the simple things. We put up lights on our roof line and cherry tree. We got a full size Christmas tree and decorated it. We had Christmas music on all the time. The result of that was Katie running around the house shouting "Angels We Have Heard on High," "The First Noel," and "Silent Night." I'd wake up to her singing those songs and "The Little Drummer Boy" to her stuffed animals and Sydney and Cora. She wraps up anything she can in a blanket and says it's baby Jesus lying in the stable. As cute as she may be, we spend a lot of time learning how to be kind to Mommy and the sisters.

Sydney and Cora are both walking now. Well, at the beginning of it. Cora can take several steps, even turn and keep walking once she's up on her feet. Sydney can take 3-4 steps at a time, and stand there forever holding anything. They both get excited whenever they see Jeremy or I, or even each other. They both stick their hands up in the air at random times and we just give them high fives. It makes them smile and laugh. Sydney has recovered since our last post. She is inhaling whatever we feed her. We have them in separate cribs now. Cora was repeatedly caught beating up on Sydney, though there have been a few times now that Sydney tries to get even when they're out toddling around.

That's how our girls are. Jeremy finished his pediatric rotation in November and he'll finish with the ICU this next week. We don't see him a whole lot, and he's pretty sleepy when we do see him. But we've had a good time when he's around.

I've been loving the Christmas season in New England though I am slightly disappointed in the amount of snow we've received. It's only been small dustings. Though we did get enough one day to put Katie in a laundry basket, tie Pele to it, and let her pull Katie down a little hill. I'm plotting how to get Pele pulling all three of them on a sled, we just need more snow. I will get pictures up sooner or later, and try to post some deep thoughts. In the mean time I'll just give a Christmas re-cap. It was awesome. We had Christmas Eve at the neighbors with some other families. Dinner, music, and a live nativity provided by the children of each family. We laughed and enjoyed ourselves. Christmas day was really low key. My friend, Amy Lou came to visit us for Christmas and we cooked up some serious Cajun Jambalaya. Well, she cooked and I watched. Then we made cookies that I took to Jeremy that night. All the girls were relatively sick this morning, so I went to church while Amy watched the girls and Jeremy was still in the ICU. Going to church, being able to listen, read my scriptures, and participate was the best Christmas present I could have asked for. When I got home Jeremy was asleep upstairs and Amy and I got Christmas dinner ready, the house picked up, and presents laid out for our Christmas evening. The wrapping paper and ornaments were probably the favorites, as always for the little people. Amy did get a nice video of Kate singing one of her songs if anyone wants to see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knbdRjVkp18

She says only family will truly appreciate this. Cast your votes people!