Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope all our friends and family had a wonderful holiday season.  This was the first year we have been away from family and it was bittersweet.  We certainly missed opening presents with Nana and Papa, Auntie, Grandma and Grandpa, Papa, and Uncle Quint.  But, at the same time, it was nice to wake up in our own home with just the 4 of us.  The snow finally came, enough at least to call it a white Christmas.  It even snowed for a little while on Christmas Eve.  
The week before Christmas we took the kids to see Santa.  He was only in town for that weekend, which surprised me seeing how close we are to the North Pole I thought for sure we would get to see more of him.  Every year since both kids were born I have gotten framed Santa pictures.  This year's didn't turn out so well.  Gianna lost her mind the moment she realized she was in a stranger's lap.  Luke who normally has zero stranger danger just looked shell shocked.  He kept looking from Santa to his sister as if wondering what all the fuss was about.  And poor Santa just looked like he wanted nothing more than for this screaming baby to be taken from him.

Christmas day poor Mark woke up with a fever of 102!  He managed to make it through opening gifts before disappearing for the next three days!  The kids and I went over to a friend's house for an excellent dinner.  We had ham and turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, homemade rolls and great company.  The kids all played together and I got to relax some.
New Years Eve we spent with the same good friends.  We got so involved in our Scategories game that we missed the ball drop!  The new year has treated us well so far.  The hospital here is getting ready to make the gigantic switch from paper charts to electronic medical records.  It will be great having electronic records, but I am really not looking forward to making the switch.  
We hope the new year is a blessed one for all who are reading this.  Ours, so far, has no complaints.  Warmer temps have meant more chances to play in the snow!