I'll catch up next year!!

By the way, just in case you've been thinking to yourself, "gee, is Cristyn dead?" the answer is Yes, I was. There's a really nasty two-week flu going around, and of course I caught it a few days after Halloween (note to self, while you're at the clinic getting flu shots for the kids, maybe you should get one yourself, too?) And then, just when I was finally feeling better, my kids brought home a gift from their school: strep throat. Which we all caught one at a time and one after another just to stretch out mom's misery for as long as was humanly possible!!! But we are all well again at long last (although the top two octaves of my singing voice are still gone...but if you've ever heard me sing you know this is no great loss.) Christmas cards are finally on their way out; this was supposed to happen before Thanksgiving since we moved and no one has our new address, but oh well. Perhaps you will receive a New Year's greeting from us instead! Merry Christmas!! We love you!

To the North Pole and back

Uncle G's Christmas present to our family this year was tickets on the Polar Express (known locally as the Lebanon-Mason Railroad during the other eleven months of the year!) The kids were very excited to go visit Santa's workshop at the North Pole, relieved to learn that they did not have to walk on top of the train in the snow, and just a little disappointed to discover that the hot chocolate servers didn't dance on the ceiling. But the juggling elves, a picture with Santa, and more than a few cookies made the trip worthwhile. We love Uncle G!!!!

And just in case you're ever in our corner of the universe, Lebanon Ohio is a really cute little town if you're into antiques and historical markers! There's a hotel where Henry Clay stayed and all kinds of cool stuff. Who knew? Just goes to show, you don't need to travel across the country or across the world to find new stuff to see and learn. (Of course, the chocolate factory across the street from the train station was our favorite attraction, but hey, we did look at the historical stuff...)