december... three

Being that we're 'Jesus people', we don't make a big deal about the guy in the red suit who -- to us at least -- has come to represent shameless consumerism. We don't really ask the question, "What do you want for Christmas?" We love exchanging gifts, but we've tried to keep our Christmas emphasis on, well, Christ! (We always confound the grocery store clerks who love to ask if the girls are ready for Santa to come, and they never have the answer the clerk is looking for.)

At school, the kids write letters to Santa and mail them at the Post Office. I had to laugh when Maia came home from school with this letter.....

She had it all worked out. Santa could sleep in our guest room if he wanted to.

On our sabbatical, I began about a dozen paintings but didn't quite finish them all. So my dear friend Lea-Anne and I got together to work on paintings for Christmas gifts. While I enjoy creating in solitude at times, it's also nice to have a little company too... and someone to bounce ideas off of. Here's Lea-Anne with one of her beautiful creations.

The lunar eclipse. Was anyone else looney enough to stay up until 2:30 am to see it? This is the best shot I could get with my point-and-shoot camera. Better than I thought it would be, actually! Ironic that it was too cloudy for NASA to see it, but clear skies over Zurich that night.

Our town likes to host a Live Nativity at Christmas. Eliana was taken with the donkey... well, all except his loud bray. She wasn't a fan of that. I was particularly enamoured with the llama. Reminded me how much I used to want a llama for a pet one day. Perhaps I was a more odd child than I realized.