Happy Holidays to one and all!!!

Merry Christmas!
and

Happy New Year!
and

Joyful days
in-between!

We hope your Christmas was as happy and peaceful and fun as ours was. Do you see the snowflake ornament above Diane's head in the photo? Bill enjoyed telling our visitors the story of it, and it occurred to me that many of you may not know that story: When Bill and Diane were first dating, they spent a weekend with their family home evening group at a cabin in the Forest Lakes area. As usual, Diane had a crochet project to work on while visiting, and this snowflake pattern was it that time. Well, she was so distracted, that the snowflake ended up with 7 points instead of the traditional 6. She kept undoing the crocheting and starting over, but it ended up with 7 points each time. So she finished it, and it is the one-and-only 7 pointed falling-in-love snowflake ever! Because it was so special, she never used that pattern again. Now you know THAT story!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Christmas was fun, except for worrying about a limp in HoneyBear that seems to be getting worse. HoneyBear enjoyed her presents so much. Especially the big braided rawhide "bone": she chewed on each end until they got softened, then she pulled it apart into 3 strips by carefully gnawing on each area until it was totally softened. Then, for a couple days, she arranged the 3 bone pieces and her squeaky dog toy in various places on the living room floor, admiring them. Then, she ate the 3 bone pieces, thoroughly enjoying the whole process!!! It was like a puzzle for her! (When toddlers aren't around, comic relief from your dog works OK---not as good, but OK.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diane LOVES having warm feet and ankles whenever she goes anywhere outside, especially at church. Bill got her 2 pair of tall boots: a heavy-duty walk in the snow kind, and a pretty go-to-church kind (it was tricky finding some that were pretty and had sensible heels, but he insisted I go with him in several stores till we found the best ones!) Bill keeps thanking Diane for not going into debt for what she really wanted to get him (a basketball standard and a new camcorder) and makes a big deal of enjoying the snuggly plaid jacket and little this and thats instead. I think his favorite gifts are the multi-tool from Suzanne and Dan, and the suede birthday hat from Diane's parents!) We got too many gifts and cards and pictures from so many people to name, but they each brought a glow of happiness and care. Thank you all for helping us feel loved and cared about. But most of all, we hope YOU feel loved and cared about from us.