“I’m dreaming of a White Christmas”…..Ok, that’s not quite true. I haven’t slept long or hard enough in over 3 months to actually dream! However, it is beautifully white here in Western Nebraska. The snow has been falling most of the week, and though it’s supposed to warm up this week, it’s supposed to be snowing again by next weekend.

Nine days until Christmas…..is your shopping done? Once again, we didn’t get anything for our children for Christmas this year. They have enough stuff from the relatives that we thought we’d spend it on diapers instead. I am looking forward to finding some stocking stuffers, however. Last night, Eden and I put the presents under the tree. A bold move on my part, I know. Only two labels got torn off, but no presents were opened ‘accidently’ yet.

We have been flooded with Christmas cards. I love it! Last year, I didn’t have much time to read them, packing and traveling and all that. This year, I’ve been able to catch up on everybody’s lives. All my friends are married with children now and strange to think that I am one of them… Didn’t I just get out of high school??

Eden’s new question of life is, “Who’s that?” From people in line at the grocery store, to the newscaster on TV and unnamed characters in picture books, it’s, “Who’s that?” I have made up more names than I ever thought possible!

Al took Friday off and instead of cleaning the house for the circuit social, we played outside in the fresh fallen snow. Click on the slideshow above for the whole day’s playing. (The pastor’s social was cancelled due to the weather.) Al fashioned a sled out of a plastic garbage lid and tied some rope to it, then took Eden for a spin. It was a bit too wild for her, however, and she was in tears the whole time. We’ll have to try it a bit slower next time. Samson had a great time in the snow, but he kept stealing Eden’s mittens and running off with them. With the snow a foot deep, it was hard to chase after him to get them back.

Lars has Eden’s croupy cough. We thought it was getting better and now he sounds awful. Kids are always the sickest on the weekends, aren’t they?? We’ll see what tonight brings.

On Thursday, I invited a bunch of children over to decorate Christmas cookies. Since I wanted to do a few myself, and give Eden the opportunity to be creative, I thought this would be a fun way to do it. It was a big, messy riot! Everybody had a great time and got to take a plate of cookies home. That’s definately something worth doing again next year. Eden’s favorite color is green, so all her cookies were green. All green. Some with green M&M’s and green sprinkles.

Tomorrow, the Red Wings game is going to be on VS (cable), so I am way excited about this. This will be the 3^rd game this season I’ve been able to watch, which is something new since we’ve acquired cable. I’m not much of a cable TV fan, but there are a few benefits. This being one of them J

Keep enjoying the weather everybody!