A Simple Christmas

This year we've decided to keep it simple. It's been such a whirlwind ever since Thanksgiving. There was the month-long illness, the unexpected funeral of my uncle in South Dakota, our parents sharing in our Thanksgiving bird, my new job position requiring more work than before, the difficulty of waiting for a year for our beautiful daughter, the countless holiday concerts for Jay, his many voice and piano lessons besides the daily tasks of living. Thus, this year we decided less is better when it comes to things like decorating and sending out cards. This year we didn't bother putting up a tree and only sent out about 20 holiday cards. Even though we never took the trip to the cold storage shed to unpack our stuff for the holiday, our humble abode ended up looking downright Christmasy, thanks to our generous students and parents. I'll include some pictures here of the beautiful gifts of flowers, etc. that are all gifts. When you are teachers there is never the need to do any holiday baking. Why, we must have at least three large milk chocolate bars frozen in our freezer, already. Thanks to the many kind and generous families who entrust your kids to us each and every week day! We can't wait to share all of your kind gifts with Penny when she's here next year.
One of the special things about this season, of course, is all the music. It was a joy to get to help out with the music for our little Japanese Christian church that meets here in Fort Collins. I played my flute and Jay sang a solo. And we especially enjoyed hearing Jay sing, again, this year at the Messiah Sing Along, held annually as a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity through Redeemer Lutheran Church. I'll try to insert videos of Jay singing below.
This year it was a white Christmas. And we got about another six inches of the white stuff the following Thursday, as well. So, it's definitely looking a lot like Christmas. . We had a very nice time on Christmas day spending time with Jay's parents. It's especially nice only having to drive to the other side of town to be with family. We're thankful for all of the gifts of family, friends and kids that brighten our days.