Christmas Wrap-up!

We had a great Christmas! Let's see...here is a numerical account:

1 = The number of Christmas cards that were returned due to an incorrect address.
2 = The number of glass Christmas tree decorations broken (tied with last year's record!)
3 = The number of packages for distant relatives...which incidently were shipped on time.
4 = The number of gifts that had to be returned or were missing parts (all purchased by Jack & Gail for Brenchley kids).
5 = Number of Brenchley kids.
6 = Number of hours added up on December 16th for performances (both The City Church kids' Christmas program & then the kids' piano recital in the evening). This doesn't include lunch with the Marquees at the Kitanda Brazilian restraunt.
7 = The number of days it took Papa Ray and cat Ojo to cross the country via RoadTrek camper.
8 = The number of plates of cookies passed out to neighbors while Christmas Caroling.
9 = The date in December that the family went to the Lobb's Gingerbread making party.
10 = The number of December events (either hosted or attended) according to Emma.
11 = The number of hours (including travel time) for the Christmas Day celebration at Good Beach with the Ostling side of the family.
12 = The number of different "Twelve Days of Christmas" lists the Brenchley kids created this year.

All in all we accomplished just about everything we needed to...although we did pospone viewing the Bellevue Botanical Gardens d'Lights display until after Christmas and only just yesterday dropped a gift off with Jamie.

R2-D2 in Prison!

Caleb (11) is one of our budding artists and here is his first stab at electronic art (using Windows Paint no less!). He thought the zoom tool was really helpful. So...when do we start him on real drawing programs like Illustrator or Freehand?

Caleb 12.23.07

2007 Christmas Newsletter

This year we tried for a less, "tell everything that happened over the year" approach and made cutouts of the kids that folks could include in their Christmas Creshes. Here is a thumbnail of the page:

Christmas Newletter 2007

Snow!

So we woke-up on the first of December with a dusting of snow - which melted by noon. Then it started snowing heavy in the late afternoon. The kids went out and were joined by their cousin Sterling. Later the older cousins even ambushed the house for a snowball fight. Here are a few shots on Photobucket - including the cold flamingo.

Cold Flamingo 12.1.07