Christmas is Coming!

Luke and I went to my parents' home in Paris, TN, last weekend. Scott was headed to Denver for the company Christmas party, so I decided to pack up Luke and spend the weekend with Mom and Dad. I had never taken him to Paris by myself. It is a two hour drive-- He slept most of the way down on Friday and all the way back on Sunday.

My mom owns and runs a day care center. She started it when I was in high school. It is the most popular center in town. She had around 75 kids ages six weeks to five years. Many people put their baby's name on the waiting list before it even born! My mom was an elementary school teacher before she had me and my sisters and became a stay-at-home mom. Once my littlest sister was back in school, she went to work for a local church pre-school, then decided to branch out on her own. I remember how stressful it was for her to take the risk, but it had definitely paid off, and she really loves her work-- and she is VERY good at it! Luke had a great time playing in the baby room with all the kids and the many new toys to explore.

We spent the rest of the weekend having fun with Ma Betz and Pa Bob (my niece and nephew named them!). Luke was an angel as usual! He really loves his grandparents! It is so neat to see them interact with each other.

It is hard to believe that Christmas is only 9 days away! I have SO much shopping to do, but it is a little harder this year to hit the stores with a ten month-old-- even as good as he is. I am hoping to get in some quality shop time this weekend.

We will celebrate Christmas weekend here at our place. My parents will come up and then we will have a Christmas dinner with my parents and sister and the rest of Scott's family. Then, my sister and her family will drive down from Philadelphia and be in Paris on the 29th. We will head to Paris then and do Christmas with them and our family with my parents again! Doing the holidays get tricky as you get older and have kids! But it is fun!

I just mailed out close to 100 Christmas newsletters yesterday. Each year since we were married I have made a newsletter that recounts all that happened to us throughout the past year. I got the idea from my Mom who always did that when we were growing up. Every year the letter got a little more high-tech with the progression of my computer skills! I love having those letters! I put one in a scrapbook each year and now we have a great family archive of the past 10 years.

Every year I sit down to put the newsletter together, I am amazed at how good God has been to us! We are so blessed! It is so wonderful to include Luke's photo for the first time in this newsletter! Last year there was only an ultrasound photo as we were anxiously awaiting his arrival! Now we can't imagine life without him! 2004 has been a VERY good year!