Merry Christmas!

For those of you who are Christian or just like celebrating this holiday, Merry Christmas!

Here's a lovely holiday video for you:



I'm in the midwest right now, having had a few days in New York and a few wonderful days in Virginia. I was only in Virginia for a few days, but I got to see lots of family there. Denise and I spent some time preparing a digital picture frame for my grandmother, there were multiple family meals, a trip to the Raven to meet a friend/colleague, and a great roast in honor of my cousin Chris's 30th birthday. I tried to fix my dad's stereo, sampled his egg nog (which used to be OUR egg nog, but nevermind), and wandered up and down my parents street looking at the Christmas lights.

On Monday, I flew from Norfolk out to Kansas City (this year is a year we spend Christmas with Sarah's family). On Tuesday, we drove to Iowa for some extended family celebrating. Tuesday night was Hodges night, with Sarah's dad's clan. Wednesday was Short day, with Sarah's mom's clan. Both events were great, with large extended families in intimate settings. At the Hodges event, the star of the show was baby Maddox, with whom I had a growling conversation for about 20 minutes (the boy is channeling Tom Waits). Also, at the Hodges event, we picked up Sarah's grandpa, who accompanied us to the Short event and then back to KC, where he'll spend Christmas with us. Both events were great, but after so much family in such a short period of time, I'm glad for a little bit of quiet with Sarah while the rest of the family is out at Christmas Eve services.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day! I hope yours is great!

Oh, and if you're the praying type, please include my friend Aga's mom in your prayers. She's doing pretty poorly now, and can use all of the good mojo she can get.