We had a holly, jolly Christmas...

Greetings Family and Friends!

Well, it has been a busy month and life is starting to settle down after the big holiday. We stayed in Denver for Christmas and Steve’s parents came to visit and celebrate with us. They will stay until New Year’s Day and then head back to Missouri for a while and then down to Florida.

In chronological order, first we need to celebrate Steve running his first 5k race! Steve completed the appropriately named “Steve’s Rudolph Ramble” on December 11. It was one of the coldest days in Denver (single digit highs for the day) and had snowed 3 inches the night before and was still snowing, so the weather was pretty gruesome. But he persevered and finished the race in 32 minutes with our friend Kenji. I was so proud of him and was there with camera and camcorder to document the feat. This was the first of many races for him! Go Steve!

With Christmas upon us, there was much shopping and decorating to be done. On a balmy December day, we hung Christmas lights on the house. Steve did a great job and the lights look wonderful. I decorated the house with my load of accumulated Christmas chatchkes and the place is quite festive. Steve parents, including brother/dog Bowzer, came up on the 21st to stay with us. Bowzer and Dulciecat have been slowly getting used to each other (well, I should say Dulcie is getting used to him. She’s the one with the problem.) and hissing is at a minimum and the two seem to be peacefully co-existing. Bozwer will stay with us after Dee and Craig leave until the spring or summer. They are going to Florida and will also go to Ecuador for a vacation. While Bowzie is a cultured dog, international travel is not up his alley. He’ll enjoy a quiet life here in Colorado and hopefully the peace treaty between dog and cat will be upheld.

On the Friday before Christmas, we had Kenji, Saiko, baby Lynn and Randy over for a Mexican fiesta, complete with authentic Mexican food and margaritas. Baby Lynn is now walking and kinda talking and fell in love with Bowzer. She chased him around and frankly freaked him out. He was running away from her, but was on good behavior. She was adorable and we had a very fun evening.

Christmas day began with breakfast, a call to St. Louis to wish my family Merry Christmas, and then present opening! Everyone gave very thoughtful and great gifts. I got shoes from grandma, a myriad of gifts from Mom and Dad, a shawl from Sally, unknown presents from Leah (seemingly lost in transit by the post office), a soniccare toothbrush, walkie talkies, clothes and funky socks from steve. The toothbrush is awesome and came highly recommended by my dentist. The walkie talkies are a blast! Steve got a Furby, shadowbox of Missouri memorabilia, KC Chiefs pennant and assorted doo-dads from me. We both received gift cards from his parents, a new Tivo so we can record shows upstairs and downstairs, and other nice gifts. It was a very wonderful gift exchange. We feasted on dinner prepared by Dee and pie prepared by me. Dee and I promptly fell asleep in the afternoon on the couch.

We rose at 5 a.m. the next morning to join the masses of maniacs for the after-Christmas shopping sale. Our main mission was wedding accessories and we scored with great bargains on lights, candles, centerpiece bowls, flowers, etc. It was a shopping extravaganza. Dee and I are crafting up centerpieces for the wedding which look great!

On Thursday, we will go out to dinner to celebrate Dee and Craig’s wedding anniversary!

On Friday Steve is skipping out of work early to watch the Missouri Tigers in the Independence Bowl versus South Carolina. He is very much looking forward to the game and hopes they don't look too bad!

Saturday, we’ll have friends over for a New Year’s Eve party, which will hopefully be a fun time. 2006 looks to be a wonderful year!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday—thank you for your cards and well wishes!

Much love,
Hannah