December Recap

Where to begin, where to begin? I don't want to dwell too much on December since it is the start of a new year but here it goes:

Ben - Finally got me a Christmas gift that he came up with on his own and was just for me and that I didn't return - a new Wii game (Raving Rabids 2) and the new Cranium game...wait a minute...those are for both of us! Oh yeah, he did get me some perfume that I wanted (Flower by Kenzo) and I only mentioned it once to see how well he was listening. Good job.

Miles - His vocabulary is still limited to Da(d), Dog, Duck, Hi, Juice, Go, Wow and Whas that? None of which any but the trained ear of a mother (his mother) can understand. But his comprehension has increased dramatically, so we communicate through questions and head nods and shakes.

Avery - Continues to patrol the streets and protect us from the underclothed. The perpetrator this time - The fashionably underclothed Aunt Brittany. The crime - Exposed shoulders. The punishment - A severe tongue lashing and warning issued by the warden of all things modest. It went something like this... "Aunt Brittany, your shoulders are showing" "Oh" "You shouldn't show your shoulders" "Really? Who said" (wrong question!) "God" "Really, when did He say that?" "A long long long long long long long long time ago" End of discussion.

Me - This month I learned that Christmas isn't all fun and games for moms, which is why Mother's Day must have been invented. After thirty years of fabulously effortless Christmases, I got to see it from the other side. I thought that I was keeping it simple and had most things done in advance, but it is just not in the cards for a mother to sleep much the night before Christmas. So thank you mom, thank you Leah, thank you grandmas, aunts etc. for all of your hard work over the years that made Christmas seem effortless. And kudos to the dad's as well. And Santa.

We were so glad to have Gma Louva, Gpa Dwight and Aunt Brittany with us for the holidays (and my parents here earlier in the month...remember we went kayaking...) I've never not had a Christmas with any of them (except for the few before Britt was born) and it was my first away from home so I was glad to have some family with us. Plus, having three more people added more gifts under the tree!

What else...hmm I know there is something....oh yes, we're moving to Washington. :) I haven't said much about it because I've been processing the info and trying to decipher how I feel about it. We are sad to leave Hawaii of course and surprised, because all things seemed to point to a 6-year stay, but we do like moving so, on to another adventure. I'm not sure how I feel about moving somewhere so rainy (I really like the rain actually, but not constant gloom) and we didn't love the area when we went to visit a few years back. But, the good news is that Ben got into the specialty that he wanted (ENT) and he will be working with a great team at a great hospital. Really, it's just the weather thing and the leaving paradise thing that is difficult. Hawaii suits us. I don't think we would have contracted the dreaded island fever (now we have to worry about getting S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder- a real disease) and we really like the "live slow", casual, nothing fancy lifestyle. BUT! I think there are a lot of things we will love about the pacific n'west as well. The blog content/interesting factor may suffer after the move, but I hope that's not the case. Anyhow, expect to hear more about what I'm sad/glad to leave and what I'm fearful of/excited to discover in our new locale, frequently in the next few months.

*The shark and Ariel balloon's in the slide show were not Christmas presents (how temporary!) but were souveniers from a place we went to eat. The balloon artists were amazing!