Christmas 2009

Most of December was consumed by preparations for Mom and Dad Peterson's visit, celebration of the holidays, and waiting for Simon to make his entrance. Mom and Dad were here for a month. The first 10 days passed quite slowly. We learned that the “watched pot never boils” adage also applies to pregnant ladies. (In contrast, the days following Simon’s delivery seemed to positively fly by.) While were waiting, we killed some time visiting an antique car museum and the town of Ghent, which proved to be enjoyable distractions.

We had a nice time on Christmas Day. We stayed home, relaxed, and ate yummy food. James received many more gifts than necessary. Like his cousin Bennett, it took James a few days to open all of them because he was more interested in playing with the toys than in making a concerted effort to open all of his presents. Goosie was just as interested in his papa’s gifts (a big remote-controlled helicopter and Zelda for the DS) as he was his own. He was so excited about the “copter” that it received copious pat-pats (“Touch it?”) and even a smooch… silly kid!

Em's Trip to Germany & Poland

Emily started the month of December with a “last-ditch, before-the-baby-arrives hurrah”. She went on a girls’ trip with some of the women from our church congregation. They took a 3-day road trip to Germany and Poland to visit Christmas markets and to shop for Polish pottery. It was a long drive but Em really enjoyed having an opportunity to spend time chatting, touring, and shopping with friends.

Dresden and Seiffen are well known for their holiday markets and are beautiful towns to visit. (Seiffen is the town where most of the German wooden decorations -like nutcrackers and wooden arches- originated). Boleslawiec, Poland is kind of a drab little town, but it has lots of factories that make pretty pottery. If you want to know what the pottery looks like, you can Google it or come and visit us and Emily will gladly show you her collection.

Jay is a really nice guy. While Em was off playing with her friends, he took time off work to stay home with James. They had all sorts of fun adventures in Mama’s absence.