Merry Christmas!!!
"Joy to the world; the Lord is come!
Let Earth receive her King;
Let ev'ry Heart prepare him room,
And Heav'n and nature sing!
Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns,
Let men their Songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy!
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found!"
(Joy To The World, Isaac Waats, 1719)
Merry Christmas to you and thank you for stopping by our little corner of the internet!
The days are short and there is a lot of darkness, but we experienced a lot of JOY this year!
In February we adopted two beautiful kittens, Nora and Ivy! Their lovely mother was rescued and they were born the day after my birthday into a safe and loving environment. They bring us lots of laughter and happiness!
On the way home for the first time:
Ivy in her new home with us:
Nora in her new home with us:
The next week, the rescue had scheduled this litter of kittens along with another litter to be models in a Target photo shoot! I got to take them to a special building that houses lots and lots of Target stuff (even vintage things they might want to use in their photo shoots!) that I wasn't allowed to talk about or take pictures of. This was in February of last year, and photos just came onto the website! Not everything that was photographed showed up on the site, so I'll keep looking!
Apparently Ivy was a more interactive model, because she is on the website for 2 separate items!
Of course, family was a big part of our great year!
Greg and me with my parents and my brother's family:
All the meals together are special!
Our niece Cora (12) hugging our new family member Nora:
Our niece Esme (10) hugging Nora:
We enjoyed having Esme and Cora come stay with us a few times!
Soon Cora will be taller than Christie. We love those girls!
One of the times Cora came over to our house, I got to teach her how to roll up spring rolls! She is also a big fan of red bell peppers!
Esme is a very good shopper, and she has come to love thrifting like her Aunt Christie!
One Saturday when it was raining ICE, Mark took us all shopping and we had a great time!
My little car Clarabelle would not have liked it (she isn't created for ice and snow!)
Esme and I made cinnamon applesauce ornaments:
Cora requested chocolate chip cookie cupcakes, Esme requested volcano cupcakes (we had to make a RED sauce to put inside so it looked like lava - we used cherries!)
My Mom and I did a bunch of shopping days, sometimes with lunch and sometimes also with my special Aunt Cindy!
This year was the first Mother's Day that my Mom had with both her kids (all of her kids and grandkids!) in over 25 years!
We also got to see Greg's Mom once and Greg's Dad and Step-Mom a bunch, too!
We are happy that so many loved ones are closer than they were when we lived in Arizona!
We are happy that so many loved ones are closer than they were when we lived in Arizona!
And friends helped bring joy to our year, too!
Paige and I love hanging out and laughing and cooking and sharing our lives!
This is my friend Heather. We went to high school together, then both moved away to the desert (she to Las Vegas and me to Phoenix), only to return home to beautiful Minnesota 6 months apart.
We enjoyed a bit of time with Greg's college roommate Rich and his wife Linda:
And I got to see Nicole, my childhood friend, once, too!
(There are a lot of additional friends I miss from Arizona - I'm tentatively planning a trip to visit in February!)
We went to a 30-year reunion for Greg's University of Minnesota Institute of Technology Honors program, which included a bunch of fun activities.
After an evening of catching up, we wandered around campus to the dorm where we met in September of 1992!!! Greg is even more handsome now.
This was one of my favorite views on the walk to class from our dorm:
The reunion also had a kayaking day, where we boated on Bde Mka Ska and other connected lakes.
That's downtown Minneapolis in the background!
Please expect cat breaks throughout this post!
Ivy being cute:
Ivy in the bookshelf:
Ivy belly!!!
Ivy likes to take the drain plugs out of the sinks!
She is very proud of this one:
Nora being cuddly:
Ivy showing off her pretty blue eyes:
Nora relaxing (with a grumpy face):
Allistair being handsome:
Ivy AND Nora helping me cool down after a hot run:
Allistair enjoying the box and the sun!
My dear friend Cindy came to visit and we did a lot of cooking:
We spent a lot of time at Goodwill!
We walked through the woods and saw cute creatures:
We enjoyed our annual week at the lake!
I'm finally healthy enough that I was able to be in the water and ACTIVE every single day (though I did crash a bit on day 5 and need some extra resting time). I treasure these wonderful memories in one of the most beautiful places on earth!
Tubing:
Kayaking:
Swimming:
Laughing and cuddling!
And of course, we celebrated Faux Day, the day we exchange birthday gifts and celebrate all our birthdays at the same time!
Cute cat break!
Ivy in a box:
Ivy and Nora on my lap:
We also had the HUGE blessing of going to Switzerland with my parents this summer!
I speak German and Greg and I have been to Europe multiple times and Switzerland once already, so we planned the trip and organized everything. It worked out better than we even expected!
We saw the Matterhorn:
My Mom's dream!
And my Dad had fun, too!
We walked through glaciers:
We rode in lots of cable cars:
We snacked high up in the mountains:
We saw the Jungfrau!
Switzerland is magical!
This year I also saw the Northern Lights for the first time!
They weren't very bright and they showed up better in my phone photos than to the naked eye, but it was still a wondrous experience. I stay on the lookout for the next showing!
My Dad got to snuggle the babies some this year, which was sweet.
And the babies all got to snuggle each other!
Ivy and Nora LOVE Allistair! He's not certain he's grateful for them, but we do often find them all snuggled up together.
Nora and Ivy watching me fill the bird feeders:
Ivy's cute face:
Nora helping me during my journaling time!
Three cats on the lap (or near the lap!)
Ivy's pretty pink toes:
All three babies:
Greg continued his hobby of window cleaning:
I have kept running and doing yoga and cooking delicious vegan food and hanging out with friends and reading a ton!
I got to go to beautiful Wyoming to visit my dear friend Cindy, too!
In October, I turned 50 (!!!)
I'm not one for big celebrations, but Greg planned a just-right one with a lovely kayak down a stream close to our house! We now have our own kayaks at home (not just the ones at my parents' cabin), but it was a bit scary hooking them up to the roof for the first time! Don't worry; they didn't fall off!
The weather had finally cooled off after a warm summer, and the trees were beautiful.
And of course in October, we carved pumpkins!
We don't always dance, but sometimes we do!
Thanksgiving with my family:
As far as work goes, Greg hit the 30 year mark with Intel in 2024. There has been a bit of tumult this year, with an emphasis on efficiency and reduction of workers as the company continues pivoting to its long-term strategy of independent product and foundry pieces. He enjoys the direct team he works with, and they continue to deliver high priority software capabilities and try to avoid sideways activities. Being fully remote is appreciated, in that it allows us to be near family, but it does have downsides.
Christie continues to distribute the Chirp Curriculum to churches and families, and she posts videos on the Chirp YouTube channel, too, to help people learn skills to make their programs/homes/schools/churches more welcoming to kids with special needs. She works with kids with developmental differences at our church and loves it and them, of course!
We have a HUGE amount to be grateful for!!!
Blessings to you and your loved ones this time of year and always.
xo
