Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season! We spent a week with Aaron’s family at the B&B in White Salmon. It was so fun that it started to snow on Christmas Eve and turned everything into a winter wonderland by morning. Some of the highlights of that week included:

• We carried on a special tradition with our nephews and niece that my Auntie Joanne began with Casey and me when we were born. Each year, she gives us an ornament: a rocking horse for “precious Lindsey,” and a lion for “courageous Casey.” We now have Christmas trees full of rocking horse and lion ornaments! We thought about what we wanted Little Aaron, Maz, and Ava, and picked the Wise Owl (Little Aaron), the Tenderhearted Turtle (Maz), and the Mischievous Mouse (Ava). It was so fun to tell them the story of how that tradition began, and to give them their first ornaments.
• Aaron spent weeks making beautiful cutting boards for Christmas presents. He thought carefully about what he wanted to include for each person. For my parents, he used purple heart (my mom’s favorite color) and myrtlewood, which only grows on the PNW coast. He made a “wave” pattern for the ocean through middle! For Casey and Jenn, he made a more modern looking board with walnut and maple, and for mine he used a dark African wood called “wenge” and maple and purple heart. I don’t have a picture yet of mine (I was busy unwrapping it!) but am including photos of the other two.
• Reading with Ava – she loves story time by the fire!
• Aaron’s Christmas tradition breakfast of coffee cake and strawberries.
• Connie and Oma completed several puzzles together.
• Connie and Aaron made a yule cake and hope to keep that tradition going each year.

Other not-so-fun updates:

• Papa (Aaron’s grandpa) went to the hospital as he was short of breath and sick with bronchitis.
• Aaron passed his cold on to me! So I was sick for most of Christmas.

Last but not least – a family member told us they’d tried to contact us using the “contact me” button at the top of the blog. We realized that that’s not working correctly! Sorry, Janine! 🙂 We will try to get that fixed. Until then, feel free to email us at:

[email protected]

Are you setting any resolutions for 2018? My resolution is to continue to be more kind to people. It’s so easy to be short when I’m feeling stressed – I’m working on trying to be more patient and thoughtful about how I respond. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!