Paging Dr. Ginny

I took my last vacation day of the year today so I could share an extra holiday day with my family.  It was well worth it, as we got to truly rest from the busyness of a month of travel, Christmas programs, and a family funeral.     Sharon got out Nathan's old toy doctor kit today, and Ginny was fascinated with the stethoscope.  In fact, she wore it around her neck all day long.  Once she understood what it was for, she was constantly checking our heart, or asking us to check hers.  One time after she checked mine she apparently diagnosed me with something, because she talked to me afterwards for a solid minute.  Unfortunately, since it was all in Chinese, I'm uncertain as to my exact condition.  :)

White Christmas

During the day on Christmas, we got a nice surprise - snow, and I don't mean just a flurry.  By the end of the evening, we had a few inches on the ground, making it officially a white Christmas.  From what I've heard, this part of NC hasn't seen that in over 40 years.  So, not only was this a special Christmas because of Ginny, but this was icing on the cake.  By the day after Christmas, we had about 4-6 inches here.  So, we went over to the Henderson's neighborhood for some sledding, since we have no good sledding hills in ours.  We had a blast.  Ginny loved it as well too, and it seems she's a bit of a daredevil, always wanting to go down again just as soon as the sled was brought back up the hill.  Not sure if she saw much snow in Shanghai (I'm thinking not), so I'm sure this was an interesting experience for her.  

Nathan enjoying the first flakes with neighbor Bonnie

All bundled up

Practice run around the driveway

First snow angel (sort of)

Nathan on the boogie board

Ginny and Dad taking a turn

Christmas Morning 2010

Well, today was Ginny's first Christmas in the Bridges family, and I think she's had a blast.  Ginny got a kitchen set, more baby dolls than I can possibly count (yuck), and her favorite - a doll stroller, which she has marched around the house proudly all morning.  Santa brought Nathan a REAL bass gutar, and amp. He's been playing that thing like a junior rock star all morning.  There were also clothes, games, and stocking stuffers galore, and we all are very thankful, and were happy to spend a simple Christmas together here in Mooresville this year.

It is a bittersweet Christmas in the fact that we lost my Uncle Frank on Christmas Eve to heart failure, a battle he's been fighting for many years.  Services are Monday, so we have a few days in between to enjoy Christmas a bit before we get to the more serious, but still important task of saying our good-byes to him.

Still, we're again blessed this season, and have thankful hearts for the blessings God has given us.

"Aside" not "Inside"

We spent the day with Sharon's family in Salisbury exchanging gifts and playing games, and generally having some holiday merriment. It was a good day! Nathan got two new Transformers today that he was anxious to open when he got home. So, I made a deal. The deal was: I'll let you open them and take them to bed, if when you get home you agree to go straight to bed! And pretty much he played by those rules. So, after pajamas were put on, we read Rudolph, and for the first time, "The Night Before Christmas." All was going very well until we got to the part which says "and laying a finger aside of his nose." I must confess, I giggled because I nearly misread "aside" as "inside," or at the very least had the juvenille thought go through my mind. Nathan looked up at me quickly and caught on very fast. He laughed too, and then slowly tried to put his finger up "inside" his nose, laughing while doing it. The rest of the tale was spent giggling and playing this little game. Also, Nathan also tried to emulate the belly jiggling like a bowl full of jelly too - very cute.