Merry Christmas!

After two years of spending Christmas with Katie on the west coast, the fact that she moved out to Seattle has a silver lining: it meant that she and Joel were both here for Christmas this year! As each year passes, I can't help but think that it is less and less likely that my family will continue to be together, all six of us, each Christmas and so I savor the times when we are.

It was a marvelous Christmas day here in Charlotte. The weather was a bit overcast, but it was sunny inside my house. Mom fixed a great breakfast and by 10:30 it was off to the living room for present opening! I got a lot of great gifts from my parents and siblings, including new shoes, multiple books, a photo, two calendars (one for work, one for home), and some clothes. I think I did a pretty good job on the gifting as well, since everyone seemed genuinely happy when they opened their gift from me.

We spent the afternoon playing Katie and Joel's Wii (which yes, they brought with them from Seattle just for the holidays) and taking a nice 4-mile walk with Mom. There were lots of people out and about, people walking in the park, admiring the Christmas lights, and watching kids ride on shiny new bikes. Tonight we went to the movies and saw National Treasure 2. I never saw the first one, but this one was entertaining.

I hope all my friends in blogger-land had a wonderful Christmas!