Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation in Michigan! Like always it went by quickly and before we knew it we were headed back to Wisconsin. Ben and I enjoyed our extra days in Michigan. We filled them up seeing family and friends. One day we went to the Delta College pool to swim with Aunt Emily, Jon, Eric, Keri, Jay, Emma, and Mr & Mrs. Davis. They have a zero entry pool with lots of things for kids to do. However, Ben's good friend Emma did NOT have an enjoyable time! She cried when we tried to show her how much fun she would have swimming. She was the happiest sitting on the edge, sucking her thumb and twirling her hair!! Phil got into town early Wednesday morning so we were able to go out on Wednesday night with a bunch of our good friends from out of town who we hardly get to see. It is always good to catch up with everyone and know matter how long it has been, we seem to pick up where we left off.

We did Christmas Eve at the Arnold's and Christmas Day at the York's. Ben really wasn't too interested in opening presents. But he did enjoy playing with his cousins Eric (3) and Wyatt (2). On the 26th Phil and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Whitney was brave enough to watch Ben for us. I had warned her that it was possible for him to cry the entire time and she STILL wanted to babysit him! Ben did pretty well, she said he would cry for 15 mins and then be okay for 15 mins, which is better than when my mom watched him and he cried for 2 hours straight! We went to dinner at Lucky's steak house. It was very good and reasonable too, I still can't get over that the Grey Goose martini I ordered was only $5.50. What made it even better was that Whitney and her boyfriend Randy got us a gift certificate there, so not only did we get free babysitting, but our dinner paid for too! Afterwards we had friends and family over to my parent's house for a little get together.

We headed back home on Sunday evening in hopes that Ben would sleep the majority of the way home. We gave him a passing grade for the trip home. Later that week we all got sick. I had to take Ben to the Doctor on New Year's Eve day and come to find out he had a sinus infection. With all three of us being sick, our New Year's Eve was very uneventful. Phil and I watched a movie. If I wouldn't have felt bad about it I could have been in bed by 8:00. We were in bed by 11:00 but stayed up until midnight to say "Happy New Year!" To tell you the truth, even if we weren't sick I am sure our plans still would have been the same.

So for now I am still enjoying my Christmas decorations being up. I figure that you get to put them up early, so what's the point in taking them down right away?? I was also thinking about the reason we celebrate Christmas. Now that I have a child I can't imagine how God must of felt sending His Son down to earth with full knowledge of what was to happen to Him. This was certainly the best gift for us, the only way for us to spend eternity with God, but I can't imagine how painful it must have been for Him. It's amazing how having a child opens your eyes up to things you've never seen before.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season. It was great to see so many family and friends and if you weren't one of them, we hope to see you soon!