Plus, I Was Bit By A Donkey

Blog? What blog? Oh. You mean this blog. This blog that I've been neglecting since...October.
In the words of Indigo Montoya:

November: 

• The twins turn 12. Twins. I should be over it by now, but there are still days I see them and think "Oh my gosh! There's two of 'em."

We celebrated with a barber shop themed party. We all wore paper mustaches (I look awesome with a handlebar mustache.) and played silly games.

• Matt came home for Thanksgiving! It was WONDERFUL. I was so busy being happy to see him that I forgot to take any pictures of his visit.

December:

• Lots of cold. Lots of snow. 
• Advent candles. 
• Van sliding backwards on a icy hill.
•  St. Nicholas Day. 
• Matt home again. His ship had a schedule change and he was able to come home for Christmas! Whoo Hoo! 
• Christmas tree hunting.

Once again we headed out to the Korbisch Tree Farm. We traipsed over the bridge and wandered across the hills looking for a tree that was just right. Joey was old enough to walk on his own and I loved watching him tromp through the snow in his tiny boots.

Tromping  Joey

Tree Hunters - (left to right) Annie, Joey, Alex, Brendan, Mary , and David.

Matt's mom brought that lovely, warm, red alpaca hat home from her trip to Peru. Matt received it as a Christmas gift. He loves it. Teenager Annie was slightly less enthusiastic about the style. Being a good Daddy, Matt offered to wear it to the next teen's function at our church. Annie politely declined (read -  "Was utterly mortified and begged me to intervene.")

After cutting down our Christmas tree we stopped to pet the animals. That's when David was bitten by a donkey. He reminded us of that terrible tragedy many times in the days that followed. It usually sounded something like this:

"Let me have that seat. You got it last time. Plus, I was bit by a donkey." 

This has become a favorite line in our house.

Donkey

• Some people have "Secret Santas". We have "Secret Angels". At the beginning of Advent the children draw names, then pray for and perform secret acts of kindness for the person who's name they drew. On Christmas Eve they revealed who they had drawn and gave a small gift to their special person. 

Alex and David each gave the other a box inside a box inside another box. The most interior box held... an IOU. (Real gifts were exchanged shortly after.) I don't know when I've seen them laugh so hard! We all thought it funny that they had both come up with the same idea!

December also brought a little of this:

A Christmas surprise - Norman Radagast Rabbit

And this:

It feels so good to have Daddy home!

And a little bit of this:

Contentment. 

January:

• The flu round one - respiratory. Trip to the E.R. 
• The flu round two - stomach. Eww. 
• Flu round three? Stomach again? Is that possible? Oh, wait. No. Norovirus. Yeah. That makes more sense. 

• More snow. More cold. Oh, and frozen pipes.

Before the flu.

The cause of the frozen pipes.

God continues to take care of us. We live among truly caring neighbors. The pipes thawed. We are finally well, and we are waiting for the next time Matt will be home with us. There now, I think that sums it up nicely.

I will eventually get back into blogging rhythm, but it may take a while. Finding time is a challenge.

Plus, I was bit by a donkey.
(Not really.)