"The Little Lights Aren't Twinkling, Clark"

** Congrats ***
First - major congrats to Angie DeRosa Giancola for getting accepted to a fabulous MBA program. Knock em dead honey! Show em how tough we Kent State J school grads can be! You survived Endres and Reporting Practices - everything else is a breeze. :)

Second - For those who don't know, both Erin and Kelly are expecting girls. Kelly's second daughter (no name as of yet) will be arriving soon followed shortly by Erin's twin girls - preliminary names - Campbell and Evelyn.

** On to the Blog **

Most of you know by now that this is my favorite time of year. I love the build up to Christmas - finding the perfect gifts, holiday parties, time spent with family and friends. I love Maddie's face on Christmas morning. I love the quiet peace that settles in midday on Christmas. Okay, if climbing on the roof didn't make me nervous, I might just have a Clark Griswold house (and if I ever decided that "tacky" was my new way of life).

Our first Christmas in our new home was a slice of perfection. We spent most of the days preceding with family and new friends. My family was over for our holiday extravaganza on the 22nd and 23rd. And - hold onto your tinsel - I actually cooked. I completely bucked my rule of no cooking on the holidays after much harrassment. Time with my rowdy family was wonderful and we managed not to scare Mark badly. :) We joined Mark's family for Christmas Eve fun including a trip to the ice skating rink with Maddie and his youngest son Devon.

Maddie jumped out of bed at 1:30 a.m. on Christmas morning. Yikes. I did force her to wait until 4 a.m. to open gifts. She sat up from 1:30 - 4. I am not kidding. I know this because she let me know the time about every 5 minutes. After presents, which doesn't take long when you're an only child, we watched A Christmas Story AGAIN. Luckily, TBS seems to feel the need to run it for 24 hours straight. And when it gets to the part when Ralphie drops the lugnuts and screams "Fudge," Maddie informs me, for the 8000th time, that, "Mom, I know what he really said. Hee. Hee. Hee."

She did take a small nap later in the morning but she spent most of the day running on Christmas energy. That is until late afternoon when Mark, Maddie, Lola and I went to Sugarcreek to hike. By the time we finished the trail, the Divine Miss M was in full Diva Mode. Luckily, she did wind down and crashed with visions of toys and video games dancing in her head. :) Mark and I were actually able to have some alone adult time between the juggling of our children's schedules.

Most of you also know that for our family and friends, this can be a very painful time of year. The longing for loved ones who have passed can be much more salient this time of year. Memories of holidays past can be both comforting and heartwrenching. For all of you - and for the others - my thoughts are with you.

Merry Christmas. All my love.
Jami and Maddie

PS. If you have some time - check out the Swineharts blog. Those kids are too cute.

PPS. Jenn Brann - I just read about your scary adventure in the ER on Christmas morning. Jeez, kiddo, I guess we need to ask Santa to stuff your stockings with Benadryll and an EpiPen. Speedy recovery my dear and I'll give you a call this week to see how you are healing.

PPPS. I did do Christmas cards with year but I still haven't mailed them. They are coming this week so call them New Year Cards.