Uno, Dos, Tres Gates!: A White Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating with family and close friends. It was sad not having Tim home the week leading into Christmas, but we were thankful that his long hours earned him some quality time at home when he got back. We had lots of down time which was greatly enjoyed. Micah had fun playing in the snow with his daddy and grandparents, and he certainly enjoyed playing with all his new toys. Grandma and Grandpa gave Micah the rocking horse that Tim grew up playing with- what a special gift! And we received a very special gift from Tim's brother, Jeremy- a beautiful oil painting of Valley Forge, painted by Jeremy himself. I am excited to get it up on the wall!

On Sunday, we had a visit from Mimi and Greg, our dear friends that live too far away in Ohio. Mimi and I have been the best of friends since we were 8 years old; I cherish each opportunity I have to spend with her! It was so much fun to have Mimi and Greg in our home, to catch up in person and share a lot of laughs. It was also exciting to see them because they are 16 weeks pregnant with their first child! If it's a girl, I think we are going to have an arranged marriage... Each Christmas since we've been married (same year), we exchange ornaments with a different theme each year. Most years we have picked two adjectives from the "Apples to Apples" game and the ornament must then fit both adjectives. This year's adjectives were "ancient" and "sappy." The search turned out much harder than we had planned! I went with "sappy" as in "overly sentimental" and found an angel (ancient) holding a banner that read "My Favorite Angel" (sappy). We received an ornament from them that read "Joy" with a pine cone and needles attached to it. I love seeing how we each interpret the theme. It has been a fun tradition.