Sophia (a distant cousin from Sweden) has joined us for Christmas. After playing some of her concert pieces for Sophia, Maya has begun giving her lessons.

It did not take long for Aunt Susan to get pulled into a craft activity with the kids.

Kyle with Aunt Susan and Rose getting ready to head out on a last minute shopping excursion. Meanwhile, Maya waits patiently in the car. Susan and Rose drove down from Burlington and will be staying with us for the holidays.

A very big day for Maya. This morning, she lost her first tooth. After discussing various techniques, she opted for the “twist and wiggle” method and proceeded with her own extraction.

This is one of several gifts I received from my boss at the Christmas party he hosts for his staff. He likes to poke fun at me whenever I wear my Stanford sweatshirt and asked if I would wear it today. Everyone else received equally humorous gifts, and the party was a very welcome break from the recent intensity of the new job.

Nicolai takes a little break from drumming practice. He is really starting to sound quite good. He uses his left foot to operate the bass pedal and has positioned the hi-hat pedal underneath his chair (proper drum term is the “throne”) which he operates by leaning forward and back. I have a day trip to Madison, WI tomorrow (leave at 5am, back by midnight) and probably will not post again until later in the week.

While at the basketball game, Maya borrowed my camera and snapped this shot. Normally I wear this hat to keep warm. I have now taken to wearing it indoors at the games to muffle the sound of the referees. I think these guys must get paid by how loudly they can blow the whistle.

Kyle driving hard to the net helping his team to another win. Kyle is extremely strong defensively but has been somewhat tentative on offense. His determination to improve is something to admire, however. After missing a lay-up in yesterday’s game, he stayed after and practiced until he made 50 lay-ups at game speed. Observing that he was now thoroughly exhausted, I thought it an opportune time to challenge him to a little one-on-one. Let’s just say that I got the spanking I deserved (although for the record I was wearing my climbing boots).

Maya modeling the hat I bought for her in Munich.

Today Maya and Jeanine played “Silent Night” together in the Christmas Recital. Because I was at Kyle’s basketball game (a win by one point, scored in the final seconds) I was treated to an encore performance at home.

One of the little shops handled only percussion instruments. I came very close to buying another drum, but the thought of hauling it back to the states got the better of me.

My trip to Germany was rather exhausting. After working in Tewksbury for the day on Wednesday, I flew through the night and went straight to the Munich office for another full day, all without sleep. On the way to my hotel, I passed this Weinachtenmart (outdoor Christmas Mart featuring scores of small shops, food of all types, music, dancing, and of course beer). I am still not clear where I found the energy, but I had a great time finishing my Christmas shopping while sampling food from grilled Brats to the finest local cheese.

Maya posing with the gingerbread house she constructed. Please note the circular frozen pond on the right and the snow fort in front. I am off to Germany on business and doubt I will be able to post again until the weekend.

Tonight was my family night and I chose “food processor creations” for my theme. We started with fresh squeezed orange juice.

Next we moved on to ice cream smoothies. We prepared strawberry, raspberry, and banana puree to combine with blueberries, ice cream and coconut milk. Each family member then combined ingredients to create their own customized blend. Kyle, Maya, and I opted for a strawberry-banana blend with a hint of raspberry and blueberry over a vanilla base. Nicolai went for chocolate ice cream and raspberry (delicious). Jeanine made a coconut milk based concoction which was not very popular with the group.

Kyle, sporting a fine haircut administered by his father, scored 7 points in his game today, including a very sweet buzzer-beater to end the game.

Jeanine hosted a cookie-baking party today. Neighbor Gabriella is pictured here with daughter Julia and Maya looking on. I was in charge of quality control and was very thorough in my testing.

The day started with a little snow removal. We got about a foot of snow with some drifts almost double that. I called Nicolai on my cell phone and requested he take this photo. I actually enjoy snow throwing and realized that if not for my request there would likely never be a photo documenting this part of my home life.

Although I brought my camera with me, I did not have time for even a single photo in the 4 days on the road (14-hour work days, back to back). I returned on the red-eye this morning just beating a major snowstorm that hit Boston. Nicolai took this photo of a snow-covered tree illuminated by the setting sun (the colors are exactly what we saw.)

Tonight we trimmed the Christmas tree for Jeanine’s family night. Kyle played basketball earlier in the day and scored 4 points. I predict he will be in double digits per game by the end of the season. This evening Kyle also played a soccer game and scored 4 goals (4 was his lucky number for the day). I leave on a week long work trip tomorrow. I head first to Rochelle Park, NJ, then to Montreal, then Edmonton, CA and finally to Mountain View, CA. I will bring my camera with me, but may not be able to post any entries until I return.

Kyle joined us for part of the craft fair and then suited up for a Bat Mitzvah. Earlier this morning he had a basketball game. In the first half he played one of his best games ever. Unfortunately, the lack of a proper breakfast, I think, made for one of his less impressive efforts during the second half.

Today was the First Parish Craft Festival. I assisted with train assembly. Jeanine was co-chair of this annual event which is attended by 150 children.

Santa’s elves do not hold a candle to my little helper.

Nicolai and his school chum Patrick working together on their science project. They are creating a working model of the human digestive system. It is great fun to watch these boys working together. They brainstorm and collaborate using skills that many of the adults I work with fail to grasp.

This evening Jeanine took the kids downtown for the annual Concord Christmas tree lighting. I had to work late, but stopped on my commute home to capture the scene.

The new job is consuming every waking second. Another photo from my archives inspired by an article from my father-in-law which presented some great aerial photography. Photo taken on approach to Washington-Dulles airport.

Today I was promoted to VP of Engineering. I am now responsible for 500+ engineers (some of whom are pictured here) spread over Tewksbury MA, Montreal CAN, Rochelle Park NJ, Madison WI, Edmonton CAN, Indianapolis IN, Boulder CO, Mountain View CA, Munich GER, and Gainsville FL. Needless to say I am going to be a busy camper for the next several weeks (today was a 14 hour day in the office) but I will try to keep up the daily routine. No chance to get the camera out today so this is an archived photo from last summer.

Cousin Rachel licking the syrup off the umbrella that came with her order of Jeanine’s special chocolate chip pancakes.

Cousin Johnny played with Kyle’s indoor soccer team this evening. Both boys scored and both made assists to each other. Nicolai joined the game with just minutes to go and it was fantastic seeing all three cousins playing together on the same squad and bringing home the win.

Angela demonstrating the finer points of scrabble strategy during a game with Kyle, Nico, and Johnny.

Rachel and Maya have been playing a game in which Maya is a tiger and Rachel is the owner.

We were very fortunate this year to be joined by my parents, sister, and her family who braved snow and traffic to be together with us.