Christmas round-up

Christmas came and went. I've been able to relax and unwind from the stress of the semester. We had several wonderful celebrations in a very short amount of time: Christmas with different families, Josh and my first anniversary (we're going on a short trip next week to celebrate--more on that later--I can't believe it's been a year! I love Josh more than ever!), New Year's Eve, several birthdays (my dad's, mom's, and mine on Jan. 2nd). I think that's about it! It's time for some quiet now before the next semester begins, all too soon.

Christmas break definitely felt like it was over when I checked my school e-mail this morning after a week hiatus. All the peace and serenity of completely blocking school and teaching out of my mind just went *poof!* as I read a couple of angry e-mails from students about their grades. I don't know why I let it bother me, but it makes me anxious and I know that my Christmas break days of tranquil sleep are over.

Here is some of the break in pictures. The first is a snowy road on the drive from northwest Iowa to our home in Vermillion. We did a lot of driving during the break, and sometimes it was on treacherous roads. We spent a weekend up in northern Minnesota at my uncle and aunt's nice new house on a lake. A lot of my dad's side of the family was there, and it was peaceful and fun. Here's an uncle, Kelvin, pulling a move.
Here's his twin, Kevin, pretending to act useful in the (very nice) kitchen.
Their house was really nice--kind of like a Swiss chalet type house. Here's a view down into the dining area from the loft.
Josh loved being in the kitchen there. And looking handsome.

Me and Grandpa.
Dad took some grading along and he actually worked on it!
After the Den Boer gathering in Minnesota, we headed down to other family. We spent Christmas Eve at Josh's mom's house. Here we're celebrating with part of Josh's mom's family. Below are Josh's grandma, his sister, and our cousin-in-law (?).

On Christmas Day we had dinner with Josh's dad's side of the family (no pictures--sorry) and then another dinner with my parents.

After that we were home in Vermillion for only a couple of days. Then it was back to Sioux Center, Iowa, to have family dinner with Josh's sister and her boyfriend (no pictures of that--sorry). Then it was back Sioux Center again, this time to my parent's house. We spent a long weekend here, over New Year's too. All the sibling were home, with their various romantic attachments. It was fun and a very full house! Here is brother John with his attachment, Bethany. We'd never met her before. Us kids gave my parents a new TV. Their old one was 20 years old, so we thought it was time.
The men are trying to figure out all the TV's complexities.
Little sister Margo is tired out.

And that was Christmas/New Year's/anniversary/birthday(s) 2007. It's definitely time for some quiet time. One more exciting thing! Josh is quitting smoking. He's on day 6 now, and it's going remarkably well. I'm so proud of him!