Merry Christmas! God bless us, everyone!

Whoa...long time, no blog! Lots of ground to cover...so here goes!
Most of the last two weeks have been devoted to CLEANING! Gramma and Auntie were flying up from Florida to see ShaoXi dance in The Nutcracker, so house had to be READY for Christmas, and clean to boot! :) It looks wonderful...thanks in no small part to my sister, who came in the day of their arrival and did all the floors for me! I was SO busy with straightening, dusting, putting things away, decorating, that floors would have...well...FLOORED me! :) So our house is clean...and is generally STILL clean, even though, sadly, Gramma and Auntie Milena are gone.

The Nutcracker was WONDERFUL! What a joy it was to watch my girl dance on pointe. However...the weather was LESS than wonderful!

We live in coastal Connecticut. We had a blizzard come in on Saturday. We have well over a foot of snow on the ground. SO...we switched our ballet tickets to the Sat. matinee, and right after the first half, Gramma and Auntie M left for Rhode Island and the airport. I TRIED to talk them into staying and riding out the storm, but no go. Their flight was for 6:30 or something, on Sunday morning. Another NO GO! As we all knew it WOULD be. But they had booked a room in a nearby hotel, and there they stayed until...THIS MORNING...TUESDAY!!!! They are probably in Charlotte NC on a layover as I type. They will be back in FL early enough to have lunch there. What a crazy trip for them! But we are OH SO THANKFUL that they came. It made the experience so priceless! Gramma is ShaoXi's "patron of the arts" but had never seen her girl dance! Blessing!!!

The day they were to arrive...my computer died. The following morning I took it into the shop, and got it back last night. At first I thought it did NOT get fixed. It was doing bizarre things. But I shut it down, came back awhile later and turned it back on, and diddled around a bit with settings, backgrounds, etc., it seemed to be fine. So we are on a watch and wait mode. Thank you Gramma for my Christmas gift of computer repair! PERFECT!!!

My girly went out Christmas shopping last night with my sister Polly. She had a great time, and bought me a whole BUNCH of gifts. Sweet girly. I know she wants so BADLY to buy herself a camera, but she spent her money on me, instead. Little does she know...I could only afford to get her ONE gift this year...and it's a digital camera!! She is gonna be SOOO freakin' happy! :)

We have received many blessings this holiday season. Our church surprised us with some grocery cards, as did the Madison Police Dept. The police dept. also gave me gifts for Shao, as well as some gift cards for her. The Town Soc. Services just dropped off a food basket with a HUGE Butterball turkey in it! We will be able to feed the town with it! It is 18 pounds! Frozen SOLID. It might not thaw til AFTER Christmas! :) Seriously. No, actually, I will probably do the cold water thaw, so I can cook it up on Christmas Eve. We can have fresh turkey sandwiches on Christmas Day! YUM...and soup, too! I make a mean soup! :)

So, as blessings abound here at our house, I hope they are flowing at your house, as well! But I am most grateful for the gift and blessing of my walk with my Lord Jesus, who came as the FIRST Christmas gift, and the very best! Love from our home to yours!

Blessings!

Nancy