Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The holidays this year has been quite the adventure!

For Thanksgiving, Stephen and I travelled to Philadelphia, PA to stay at his great-aunt Betty's house where Grandpa Wil and Grandma Veona were also staying. Having a family to celebrate Thanksgiving with was both a blessing and a burden. It was so great to tour Philadelphia and spend quality time with Betty, Wil, and Veona, but at the same time it was hard for me because it reminded me of how much I missed my own family.

"If Christmas," I thought, "is anything like Thanksgiving, I am going to need to be prepared for it." In bereavement, we teach survivors to not ignore anniversaries or holidays but rather prepare for them. We say "prepare to take the day over before the day takes over you." So that is exactly what I did.

Since all of our friends from Gordon-Conwell were planning on being gone on Christmas, we planned adventures for two. On Christmas Eve, Stephen and I travelled north to a magical place called Plum Island. On this "island" (more of a peninsula) was the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. On the west side of the island was marsh lands and on the east side was the Atlantic Ocean. The snow that fell just days before made it especially beautiful. Stephen and I were told that around this time of year the snowy owl comes to the refuge to feed, but despite our best efforts we never spotted it. The day was spent hiking the trails and walking along the boardwalks to the ocean and through the marshlands. That evening our friends Mike and Kaylyn Penza invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas day, luckily, unfolded just as we planned it to. Stephen and I both enjoyed the rarity of sleeping in before we cooked a huge breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast. After we had our fill of delicious food we decided to tackle the task of opening our presents. (Now, this was a lot of fun!) We each took turns opening our gifts and thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks everyone!

After all the gifts were revealed we played with our new toys (mostly Skip-Bo) until it was time to go. The next event on our agenda was to go see the new movie Avatar. We planned on seeing the Imax showing but when we got there it was sold out, so we just settled for a regular, later showing. But that ended up working out in our favor because while we were waiting for the movie to start the entire Sundlie family showed up! (The Sundlies are an amazing family that go to out church. The kids are involved in the youth group and the parents and grandma are very supportive of us.) "It's a Christmas miracle come true!!"

(Waiting for Avatar to start.)

As we stepped out of the theatre we were greeted with snow! It just added to the joy of Christmas. We then drove to dinner at China Jade (a local Chinese restaurant with good prices and large portions!) There was no wait time, so Stephen and I were able to start enjoying our Christmas dinner as soon as possible.

At home, after dinner, we played more Skip-Bo and then closed the evening watching the new Star Trek movie (which was one of Stephen's gifts from me.) Overall, even though it lacked family, our Christmas was great!

But like most people who live in the real world, I was back at work on Monday. Which actually was fine. I love my job so I didn't mind. Plus, my Sarah was back at work from her vacation. AND it was a short week at work because of New Years.


Now, New Year's Eve was doubly exciting because it was not only the beginning of a new year but it was also Sarah's birthday! So, Mike and Kaylyn Penza, Ryan and Sarah Potter, and us Olsons all went out to a tavern in Salem to celebrate. It was a lot of fun! There was great food, fun music, and a tv to watch the ball drop in Times Square. It was weird, that for the first time in my life, I was in the same time zone as New York and could actually celebrate the new year with its ball rather than the Space Needle.

(Ryan Potter, Sarah Potter (birthday girl), and Mike Penza)

(Kaylyn Penza, me, and Stephen)

So, that is how Stephen and I managed to survive the holidays. Tomorrow Stephen and I are picking up our last set of friends that went on vacation, and Monday marks the beginning of Stephen's J-Term and me returning to work. The party weeks are now over and my regular life resume. Pfew!