Christmas

Our holidays started with Mary's first-ever stage appearance, debuting as one of the three "Wise Women" at the ward Christmas party. She was adamant about the "woman" part, as were her two cohorts. She definitely had the coolest costume, though--one of the the keffiyah Ed brought back from Israel matched one of her favorite dresses. Isaac kept wandering up front to kneel down with the shepherds and wise men, so there was an extra character in the creche this year.



Christmas morning was fun, and due to impressive gift-choosing by Mom and Grandmas and Aunts, Mary and Isaac were occupied all day long and Ed and I actually got to relax and even nap. The baby had a scary fever and I ended up taking her to the ER to get her checked out, but it was just a virus and the ER was EMPTY, so it wasn't too bad. We were there and home in 40 minutes, which is a world record, I'm sure.


The big kids love the baby, and the baby loves her big brother and sister. Do you like Mary's extra curls? They are clip-on "pony" tails that go with the fancy ponies given to her by Aunt Lissi (from Denmark). She loves those ponies and spends hours getting them ready to go to their parties. She's even had me sew skirts for them. I told her no, though, when she requested I make them four-legged pants.

What God has joined together, let no carelessness put asunder

***The day after I posted this, I set up my ironing board and my wedding ring fell out of the lining. I swear I use the iron more than once every two months, but I guess it was lodged in there pretty good. Talk about a good hiding place. I would never have found it. Remind me to take my valuables and cash out from under my mattress and stash them in my ironing board.

So the last week in November was less than stellar for Ed and Candice. First, I lost my wedding ring in our bedroom as I was getting ready to go to the temple. I had taken it off to put on lotion, and somehow bobbled it up into thin air. We tore the room apart, moved furniture, looked in and around everywhere and it seems to have simply dissolved into the ether. Perhaps we'll find it when we move.

Four days later, Ed was working in the yard and lost his wedding ring somewhere in the vast pile of autumn leaves. Upon borrowing a metal detector from a complete stranger on the north side, we found nails, tinfoil, bottle caps--but no ring. Ed's ready to head to the beach, though, and find a buried treasure (so we can afford new rings).