Christmas joy

I know this picture is a little blurry, but aren't we all about this time of year? I still love this picture -- Gracie and Clara Ann feeding treats to Maggie and Josie after a matinee of the Nutcracker with the Columbia City Ballet. It is such a great show, and a Christmas tradition for us for the past four years or so. This was the first time for Clara Ann, but Gracie's third. Clara Ann did pretty good considering she is four and hasn't learned how to whisper real good. The show was a little more interesting for them, I think, because we know two of the dancers, and pointed them out to the girls early on. So throughout the show, it was "Where's Katie? Where's Alexis?"

We got some great pictures of the girls after the show, too, but that's kind of a secret right now...

We had such an amazing weekend last weekend too. We went to the Christmas DREAM magic show at Workshop Theatre (featuring the magic of Brandon Wagster). He is so talented, and a joy to watch perform.

Saturday we went to the lights at the zoo with a group of friends, then everyone came back to the house for dinner. It was such a great group of people to be around, and it was nice to have the house filled with laughter and joy.

Sunday was the Volunteer Holiday Party at Workshop Theatre, and as an added bonus our old friend Melanie was passing through town on her way home from Disney. She stopped and we got to spend about 45 minutes catching up and squeezing on her little baby and meeting her husband and other kids. There's just something about reconnecting with someone you haven't seen in eight years, and picking up like you haven't missed a beat.

All this happiness over the weekend has left me with a bit of a happiness high that has carried through for the week. Gifts are in the mail, almost everything is bought, except for a few little things for Jeni so she has surprises under the tree (which isn't an easy thing to do). Jeni's family should roll in tomorrow (just a little more cleaning to be ready). It's going to be a merry Christmas indeed.