Catching up

Elijah and Papa kickin' it old school on the N64
Mary and her friend, Penelope
Brian and Bob in a cut-throat game of Connect Four
Emily and Jonathan in an "almost as cut-throat" game of Air Hockey


I definitely feel like I've been filling Ein bits and pieces of our winter break, but I finally have a bit of time to sit down and reflect on all the coming and going. I thought I would hate having the first almost full week off before Christmas, but it turned out to be ok. We spent the first several days home doing what we normally do at the beginning of a break--trying to get into our "home rhythm" (which usually entails some knock down drag out type behavior as we get used to being together all the time). We did some shopping, I got the attic prepped for construction (GOT RID OF LOTS OF STUFF!), Brian did some of the electrical work up there, we spent the best 8.95 all year and got Netflix streaming. AWESOME. Christmas Eve night we attended divine liturgy at 9:30 p.m.. I was so tired afterwards that I didn't even put the presents out for Christmas morning. (It's a good thing we don't do Santa around here!) On Christmas morning we put out the presents while the kids begged from their room to come out and see, opened in a bit of a hurry, then packed up for Michigan. You can read about those events in a previous post.

When we returned home it was time to start prepping for the next big event: our 10 year anniversary crowning ceremony/New Year's Eve party. A crowning is part of an Orthodox wedding ceremony. Brian also bought me a new ring. My original ring was having some trouble and I quit wearing it a while ago. We used the stone from my ring along with a donated stone from his mom and an earring stone from my first mother's day to create the new one. It is beautiful! And we had the best time. The attic is totally fun--a recreational space that we will definitely be using this winter when we can't run around outside. We were surrounded by friends and family, playing games and listening to music--and many of us even made it till midnight, including my children for the first time. I only have a few pictures of the party-- the crowning pictures are on someone else's camera so I will post those when I get them.

New Year's Day was spent with Brian's family doing our last Christmas celebration and birthdays for his aunt and uncle who were visiting from Cleveland. Today I should be at work, but Mary is down with a fever so we are home. I think we'll be back in action tomorrow. She isn't 100 percent, but her fever seems to be done.