Thursday, December 25, 2003
It was a little different this Christmas, since the family has expanded to include Tammy, D.J. and Dakota. We only had the little boys until noon, when their father picked them up, so it was like two holidays in one. A loud one and a quiet one, maybe. I'd say a junior version and an adult version, but sometimes it's a little hard to tell which is which in our family. |
Tammy, David, Dakota and D.J. open presents. |
You never know how the gifts you pick out for someone else are going to go over, but D.J. wore his Tigger sweatshirt most of the morning, and Dakota sat contentedly with his talking Simba, watching his elephant video. So if happy children are any indication of a successful Christmas, we hit the jackpot today. |
Dakota enjoys his elephant video. |
After the boys left, Mom, Suzanne and I went to the cemetery to visit Dad. It was cold most of the day, and the sun seemed to come and go, but while we were there it was warm and bright. There were a lot of people paying respects at the cemetery today, and the rows of graves were decorated more colorfully than usual. |
At the cemetery. |
The rest of the day was for fun and laughter and family. As I might have mentioned, the family has changed since last year at this time, and we were charged with a new and different kind of energy this Christmas. In just over two weeks we'll be celebrating the wedding, and there's a baby coming this summer, so next Christmas we'll be a family made over once again. |
Tammy watches David and Eric play Foos-ball. |
Tonight, after a big dinner and coffee and dessert and maybe a little wine, it got cold and clear. In fact, when I got home it was such a brilliant night that I could see a million stars, big as the lights strung around the tree, shining over the roof of my house. Orion's Belt was intertwined with the branches of the dead birch.
Then I tripped the motion-sensor light and the stars all disappeared, but up until then it was a great show. |
|