December 24, 25, 29, & 31

December 24: a small and sort of impromptu Christmas Eve party at our place, involving lots of food.

stuffed mushrooms with goat cheese

a simple nacho dip of just salsa and cream cheese mixed together - yum.

It took us a few days to get through all of these!

December 25 - Merry Christmas!

Bethany and I displaying all our loot - play kitchen stuff and a toy stroller for her; chocolate, a book, and a springform pan for me.

Phil proudly displaying his new ESV study Bible.

December 29 - Happy Birthday!

Phil is a great baker (and cook)!

And December 31 - Happy New Year.  No pictures, but we had a great time.  We went next next next door (three doors down), and celebrated with several friends.  Our plan was to bring our crib over and then put Bethany to bed in the host couple's bedroom.  Fat chance of that working, right?  I wondered that too, but Bethany did really well.  Instead of bringing our crib over, we just used their PeaPod.  It's awesome.  Believe me - we have our eye on one, especially for this summer.  Bethany went right to sleep, stayed asleep through fireworks and all of our partying, and then when we were done, we just carried her home and plopped her in her crib.

What have you been up to the last couple of weeks?