Christmas II

On Christmas afternoon, we loaded up and drove up to Washington to meet the rest of the family at Amber (Kelly's sister) and Rob's. It was great to be all together and enjoy the chance to visit.

That evening we exchanged gifts between the families. Kelly and I had Amber and Rob, which was significant this year because Rob is being deployed to Afganistan on January 23. I really struggled to figure out what we could give them that they would enjoy, but would also be meaningful to the family while he is away.

At Mom Peterson's suggestion, I finally decided to make a countdown to Rob's homecoming. I enjoyed designing the calendar and especially the chance to do something (however small) to let them know we are thinking of them.

Here's how it turned out--

A special thanks to April who helped me figure out what to put at the top. (We were limited by only 1 of each letter of the alphabet!)

After a lot of great food and visiting, we drove back down to Eugene on Saturday night. Our flight home wasn't until early Sunday evening, so we enjoyed a quiet day at Mom and Dad's. I especially enjoyed attending church and running stake errands with Kelly's Dad. We would walk down the hall 5-10 feet at a time, stopping to talk with almost everyone! It's easy to see that Kelly's parents are genuinely interested in everyone and loved by everyone in return. Their love for and focus on their family was also evident as so many of the people we met knew Kelly by name and that we are living in Las Vegas (even though he didn't grow-up in Eugene).

I am certainly grateful for the wonderful family I married into and for the blessing of being all together at Christmas.