The girls pose with the statuary as we depart the restaurant. I like the notion of sword bearing soldiers standing guard over these two and may call them into service once they become teenagers. 

Here the girls take special care to ensure that their drinks are at exactly the same height. Why this is important, I can not say, but then I am not an eight year old girl. 

After the service we enjoyed another holiday tradition, diner out at our local Chinese restaurant. This year we invited the Budris family to join us. Sarinaugh is Maya’s soul mate and her two sisters are the same age as Kyle and Nico. It was a great meal spent in the company of great friends. 

This evening the family attended the Christmas Eve service at First Parish which culminates in the singing of Silent Night by candle light. Despite the fact that only one and a half members of the family can sing to save their life, everyone participates to the best of their ability. 

Jeanine shows Kate our photo wall which features enlarged black and white versions of our Christmas cards going back for a decade. We are going to have to start another wall to accommodate this year’s photo. 

Kyle was invited to dine with Chloe’s family. Knowing that Chloe’s mother enjoys peanut brittle he made a batch using Jeanine’s family recipe. It should be noted, that at no time during his life has Kyle ever made peanut brittle for his father who is also known to enjoy it.  

This evening we had the Yoder family over for dinner. Nicolai takes great pleasure and pride in being the official punch master. His concoction, as he refers to it, was outstanding and included freshly sliced fruit and frozen rasberries. 

Despite all the hardship created by the snow this year, there can be no argument that it makes for a wonderful white Christmas. It was almost midnight when I took this photo of the view we have from our front door. 

Nicolai scored 2 goals and had one assist to help his team to a 6-4 win. His first goal, pictured here was a short range chip, beating his defender and the goalie. His second was a gorgeous full volley that ripped into the upper corner. 

Nicolai had an indoor game this evening. Here he just misses a beautiful flick-on header. 

A nice winter scene on the way into work this morning. 

Question: How do you keep from losing your boyfriend in the crowd? Answer: You put a label on him. This is a very pragmatic solution that never occurred to me while I was growing up. Excuse me, I feel the sudden urge to label my wife in case she inadvertantly strolls beneath some mistletoe at a holiday party. 

Maya attended a Gingerbread House / Sledding party (I did not know these existed either) with this architectural masterpiece. 

While driving to work, I passed a tractor trailer covered in snow and ice and I thought to myself what would happen if a large chunk came flying off and hit my car. A second later, a man-hole size peice of solid ice crashed into my windshield. The impact was massive and I am still amazed that the glass did not shatter. For the rest of the day, I wondered how close I had come to death. What if I was driving 3mph faster? What if the chunk of ice had hit at a less oblique angle? What if I had swerved off the highway to avoid it? The fact that I had anticipated the possiblity left me wondering as well. At the end of the day, I am reminded to take nothing for granted, to live each day fully, and to love those close to me.