Happy New Year!

Wowzers. It was a great holiday season for us. We loved trekking through the snowy forest to find our own Christmas tree this year. It was a bit charlie-brownish, but had great charm and went up about 15 feet to our ceiling. Nice! And to all those huggers out there, it actually is good for the forest in preventing overgrowth and fire danger, so we got to feel like we were helping out nature a bit.
We were blessed with a perfectly adorable little addition to the family on Dec. 21st. Christie gave birth a couple weeks early to Ian Arthur. She had a great home birth where Ian got to be born by candlelight in a warm birthing tub and left right in his mommy's arms as he met the world. It was an honor to be there and Christie is recuperating really smoothly.
We had a post-christmas catastrophe involving my apparent naivety and a roast in a pot simmering on the stove for eight hours. We came home to a house whose every square foot was permeated with nasty smoke. We spent the time from Christmas to New years scrubbing, spraying, laundering and professionally cleaning the place. The smell is still there, but growing fainter by the day. I am confident that by 2009 we'll have a fresh home once more.
Other than the smoke-fest we had a beautiful holiday season. It was so fun having Evelyn get excited about things and able to understand more. Unfortunately she understands the ins and outs of Santa Claus' nature far more than the story of Jesus' birth. All in good timing, I suppose. She has been randomly asking on her own questions like, Where does God live? and Is he sitting on my book? Can I read to him? Ahh, we love her and we love the way her mind works. She's constantly asking all these great questions and making comments on the world that I had no idea a 2+ year old could come up with. We had a blast spoiling her rotten with toys this holiday season. We were downright giddy when it came time to fill her stocking.
Baby #2 is doing well and kicking up a storm. I'm already falling in love with this little person and can't wait to find out what she's like. Four more months and we will know. I'm already counting on this being a great year. Happy happy happy and love to all of you -