December 25

Here's Louie sporting his new camera! Since we opened presents on Christmas Eve, we decided to venture out on Christmas day and take a walk through Circle B Bar Reserve. The thing to know about Circle B Bar Reserve is that there are no fences, and lots of alligators. Louie wasn't too happy about this sign...

Luckily, the gators usually keep away from the path. First we saw a few baby ones like this:

And then some bigger ones like this:

We also saw lots of different bird species, like this...

And this... (pretty blue heron!)

The Spanish moss hanging from all the trees makes it kind of look like a fairy tale forest or something...

Finally, here's a picture of a red leaf. Just cause.

For Christmas, I got some new headphones, a Doxie scanner, a season of Covert Affairs, some great new socks, a legit copy of Photoshop, an external flash for my camera, a 2013 calendar, and a few more things. Louie got some new shirts, a camera (sort of...dad had an extra one lying around and gave it to him!), and some new socks. Seriously, I understand now why adults want socks for Christmas. Socks are the best. Socks are second only to electronics. ;) Anyway, we had a fun time opening gifts. Before that we went to the Christmas Eve service at my parents' church, which served as a good reminder to me of where my focus should be: on the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ! When I think of all the good things that God has blessed us with, I want to sing out with the angels in Luke: Glory to God, Glory to God in the highest!

Connecticut visit

A couple of Saturdays ago I met my parents in Connecticut to attend my grandfather's (hereafter referred to as "Papa") funeral. The funeral wasn't until Tuesday, so we spent a few days just visiting with family. Let me tell you: it was wonderful! I didn't realize how much I missed everyone until I finally got the chance to just sit down and talk with them, without all the franticness (yep, new word) of the wedding.

First we had Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt Gloria's house, where I got to meet my littlest cousin for the first time. She immediately stole my heart! Meet Michalina:

Michalina is the cutest

The next day we visited my brother Chris & sister-in-law Kate, and took my nieces Christmas shopping. They have five dogs in their house! Three of them managed to sit still long enough for a picture:

Chloe

Layla

Jackson

Cozy fire

Isabelle picked out a Lego set for Christmas and Jade chose a new backpack.

Throughout my time in Connecticut I learned a few things about Papa that I didn't already know. As it turns out, the rest of us have a lot to live up to if we hope emulate his life of service, sacrifice and abundant generosity and love. Almost everything he did was either for his country, or his family. He received two purple hearts for his service in World War II. And he trained to be a paratrooper! I'm so proud to be his granddaughter. Here's a picture of us being really cool:

The funeral took place in the little town of Townshend, Vermont. He was buried with full military honors. Watching two young Marines fold up the American flag and present it to my uncle Michael was definitely one of the most touching moments of the burial for me. The other was listening to this young man play Taps:

Semper fi.

Overall it was a wonderful trip. We all pledged to get together more frequently... and being the quintessential family man that he was, I think that's exactly what Papa would have wanted.