Now that the space underneath the tree is finally empty and the bundle of new toys and clothes are properly stored, I can take a moment to share our Christmas joy with you. We all had a spectacular Christmas this year! We had 5 occasions of present opening this year! There was a lot of traveling between MN and IA, but now we are done and very thankful to have had so much time with everyone! Everyone was very thoughtful and generous with their gift giving. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Lilah, being 4 years old, really got into the whole Santa thing this year. She wrote several letters and even sat on Santa's lap to tell him what she wanted for herself and for Sydney, our dog. Santa brought her all the things she wanted and she was very pleased. However, she was puzzled that Santa was so good to her even though she had been naughty a few times. I tried to explain that Santa had forgiven her for her naughtiness because she had learned not to do those naughty things again. She seemed to understand that, but questioned if Santa had given gifts to a daycare boy who is particularly naughty each day. I'm sure she will ask him and his mother, and then I will have more explaining to do.