Auld Lang Syne

It's hard to come to grips with the fact that Christmas is over. Heck, the YEAR is almost over. I shake my head in amazement at how quickly the time has passed since we rang in 2009.

Our Christmas holiday was relaxing and delightful. I sometimes get discouraged when I think we're not establishing any family traditions of our own...but I realized this year that we have MANY traditions that have stuck with us for the last several years. Our advent calendar scavenger hunt and then hunting for Fred (our Elf on the Shelf) every December morning....

....and our Mickey Mouse Christmas pajamas the we all wear each Christmas eve. Kids got new ones this year. Thank the Lord mine and Animesh's still fit! :-)

This is Christmas Eve before our church service.
I wonder how long the boys will let me dress them alike???

Our new family member was a real challenge to keep away from the Christmas tree and those tempting ornaments dangling from the branches. One too many times we found him perched on a gift trying to reach for a "chew toy" of his choice.

But he's just too cute to stay mad at for long.

Christmas Eve after church we came home to sprinkle
the traditional "reindeer food" on the lawn.
Last year we were sweating.
This year we were freezing cold!
Crazy Texas weather.

Letters to Santa were hung by the cookie plate with care.
I was impressed with the kids' concern about
Santa's safety. :-)

The kids marked the note for "Santa only."




This was to ensure that Grandpa (aka the COOKIE MONSTER)
didn't partake of Santa's treats before he got to our house.

Proof of Santa's arrival.

The big fella was good to all of us. The grandparents spoiled the kids...no big surprise. And, I have to say that this year was the most magical of them all...with all 3 little Indians bubbling with excitement and anticipation Christmas Eve. I couldn't get Priya to go to sleep!

We're looking forward to a fun-filled New Year's Eve
doing one of the things our family loves to do most...
cheer on the the Spurs at a home game...
just the 5 of us (and thousands of our closest fan-friends!).

I love ringing in the new year...even if most of the time I'm fast asleep come midnight. The notion of fresh beginnings and new starts is exciting to me. I'm looking forward to this year, in particular, with several big events in store for our family: a milestone birthday for me, our first ski trip with the kids, our baby going off to Kindergarten, my first big public guitar performance,
and only the good Lord knows what else.
Pretty exciting stuff.

May the richest of blessings be yours now and in 2010.
We have so much to be grateful for!