Merry Christmas!

We began our Christmas celebrations on December 8 when Al & Millie came up to our house; we put up our Christmas tree and decorations a day or two prior to that. We didn't see them at all in 2022. In 2023 and 2024 we saw them one time a year - both times on a Sunday afternoon in December at our house. The kids attended a homeschool Christmas party at the roller-skating rink on December 11, a youth group Christmas party that same night at church and sang in a Christmas program at MCS on December 12. Nadia and I attended a Christmas concert with Cheri on December 13, and our family attended a Christmas concert at our church on December 14. We decided to skip going to MCS on December 18-19, which meant I was able to take Oliver and Xandir to Kaos for two hours on December 18. Originally, we planned to celebrate Paul's dad's 83rd birthday on December 20, but due to the snow that day we postponed it to December 23, which is when the kids also received their Christmas gifts from him. We miss not being able to see Ellie. On December 24 we gave the kids their Christmas gifts and attended one of our church's Christmas eve services.

On December 25 we drove to Maryland; including one brief stop it only took us 3 hours and 10 minutes, which was shorter than usual. Nadia drove the first hour, and Paul drove the rest of the way because I was holding Milo the whole time. In 2022 and 2023 we brought him to Virginia and Chicago. This was his first trip to Maryland. We had to keep him on a leash most of the time for a variety of reasons including the fact that their cat, Skittles, was not a fan of Milo. It was the first time in ten years that we all celebrated Christmas together. The number of people (23) was identical to how many were gathered together in 2014. We lost two (Maurice and mom) and gained two nephews (Wesley and Brendan). The last time we were together for Christmas Micah was the youngest (3 months old) and Jenna was 12. Since the kids are older this time around, Jenna's boyfriend, Toby, and Joshua's girlfriend, Esther, also spent some time with us. This time the youngest is Brendan (8 months old) and Jenna is 22. A photo canvas in my home is from that Christmas. The photo is of Jenna, my mom, and Maurice. Jenna is the only one still alive ten years later. I miss Maurice and mom very much. Ten years ago, Oliver became very sick while we were in Maryland, and we had to cut the visit short earlier than planned to take him to the hospital in Pennsylvania. I'm thankful he's outgrown his premature lungs.  Now that the Towfighis are living in Maryland, I doubt I'll ever host the large family gathering again at Christmas as I don't think our house is big enough for 23 people, and that number will likely grow as our nieces and nephews begin to get married and have kids. Activities included playing many games, jumping on the trampoline, playing pickleball, watching The Secret Life of Pets, opening gifts, and going ice skating. Nadia and Rachel continued their tradition of making a mystery dessert. They went a more conservative route in selecting the ingredients, and the cupcakes were delicious! Their sleepover was different as they didn't create a detailed schedule, and Susie and Andrew joined them. We wrapped up our Christmas celebrations today when Paul took Oliver to a free Christmas party at the ice-skating rink in Sunbury. I'm not sure if we'll go to the free ice-skating party on Tuesday, but if we do, Oliver will have been ice skating three times within five days!

We left the Towfighi's house after lunch on Saturday, ate dinner, and then I drove Nadia and Ian to Camp Susque where they will be attending Winter Camp for high schoolers from Dec 28-31. This will be Nadia's last year attending Freeze Camp because after you serve as a counselor (which she plans to do in the summer of 2025), then they have you attend Blast Camp (college/young adults) even if you're a senior in high school. Ian hasn't ever attended a winter camp. I signed him up without asking him if he wanted to this time because I knew it would be the only year he could attend with Nadia. I'll give him a choice in the future. I'll pick Ian up at 11:30 on December 31, but we won't pick Nadia up until January 3 as she's working as a member of support staff for Blast Camp. She'll be cooking meals, doing dishes, and cleaning. Normally we resume our schoolwork on January 2, but due to Nadia being at Camp Susque, we won't resume until January 6. From December 21-January 17 the kids will end up having a whopping 8 days of school due to Christmas break, skiing at Elk Mountain on January 8, and Ian's surgery on January 15. Our second marking period will end on January 17. Our co-op won't resume until February 4.