Merry Christmas

To my vast worldwide audience,

Good afternoon, and Merry Christmas. We're expriencing another relaxing Christmas, this one being the first in our new home, the first with our puppy dog Chesterton, and a nice snowy Christmas day, to add icing to the proverbial Christmas cake.

Grandpa and Grandma Qualls and the Glasscock family enjoyed a nice relaxing Christmas morning, with stockings opened, crepes eaten, presents opened (a marathon event lasting several hours), and now just a relaxing time for some of us. For Lori and Grandma, it's a friendly time in the kitchen cooking the turkey.

It was a rough start to Christmas morning, when Cameron's ipod turned up missing, and Daniel's camera autofocus lens mechanism got stepped on and broken by the dog. Cameron is already looking forwarding to upgrading to the itouch, and Daniel is looking forward to sending the camera in for repair. The boys actually took it all in stride, and they handled both events with class. After all, it is just technology.

I appreciate the way our family handles Christmas. Lori has done a great job of setting reastic expectations, and as the kids have gotten older, they have quickly transitioned the focus from gift getting to gift giving. We have decreed that E and F can not get any older, at least during Christmas, so that the magic stays - either that or some of the older kids need to get married and start having kids themselves, so that we can keep the magic alive. The latter option is the most realistic, but it looks like there will be a few years in there where the magic is of the more mature christmas participant variety. Regardless, it is nice to be able to give, if even just a little bit.

And as we give, my thoughts turn to all of those in our world that have absolutely nothing to give, and just are just barely managing to make it through life. So little of what we have could mean so much to them.

Dad and I have been busy building a storage shed this last week, as I have been off work, and Dad has been needing something to keep him busy while he is on vacation:-). The process is really slow, with the rain and the short work days, but we're getting closer. The walls are up, the siding is on, and all but one of the trusses are made. With the snow today, I don't think that we'll get that last truss finished - we accidentally threw our motivation away with some of the wrapping. No worries though....Russ, Lisa and their family are coming in this weekend to celebrate the new year, and we should be able to muster the troops to put the trusses up, put the roof sheathing on, then it's just a matter of the tar paper, roofing, and then some finishing trim. After that, the storage shelves will go in, and then the garage tools can make their way out of the 3rd garage bay and into the shed.

After the shed is complete, I need to work on the 4 ceiling high rows of boxes in the garage, that are left over from the last move. It's all junk, just pure junk. Anybody want some? Help yourself. It's the stuff that garage sales are made of, but I just don't have the motivation to put a garage sale together. I'd rather give it away, or haul it to the garbage dump.

As the year comes to a close, it's nice to reflect on all of the past year's events. The last couple of years have been big for us. Moving from California back up to the Pacific Northwest, living in a hotel for 3 months, then a rental for 14 more months, and the finally into our house. It's a beautiful place, and has been well worth the wait. I especially enjoy having things to do outside - not so much to "build value" but just to stay busy, and productive, other than at work.

Allison and Bethany are doing a great job in school at WOU, and Cameron is working hard and also focused on his school work - he just got his PSAT results back, and scored well. Daniel has really enjoyed his camera, and is our budding photographer. Elaina and Faerynn are enjoying sisterhood together.

Well, it's time to wind up the post for now.

Take care,

Shannon