Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind. -Nathaniel Hawthorne

Christmas morning- traditional Christmas story time and snuggle to begin the day!

Yes, time does fly. We often think of this phenomenon with a negative connotation- where is the time going?- but I'm pondering time a lot these days, these growing days, and it's not flying by and leaving no trace. Its trace is in these beautiful faces living their childhood days; its shadow is the mark forever imprinted on our hearts and these souls bound for eternity. I choose to be thankful for these growing, changing days- the years that are piling up- thankful that I have the privilege of living them with these dear ones. The days are not always easy- we have drear and discouragement and days of ick- but they are nonetheless vibrant and important- building us in vital ways, each of them. 

So here we are, in retrospect again, because we've been busy living these days! But I think they're worth chronicling, so we'll go back to those magical days leading up to Christmas...

that's our girl- front right

There's not much that can beat a performance of strings music for Christmas beauty. Our season and our lives have been much enhanced by the addition of the cello!

In the music vein, Tim and I had the fun of spending an evening out at a jazz concert- one of my favorite memories of this season by far.

And speaking of my favorite artist, he entered a local ceramics show- a good experience and opportunity to be in the art world here in Bangkok. These great friends came to support him.

This is the closest we got to snow, but we did get some pleasant weather this Christmastime- when it dips below the low 80's around here, everyone pulls out their jackets!

We celebrated Christmas in community- here with friends at Grace City's Christmas party, and with a house full of friends and neighbors on Christmas afternoon.

But Christmas morning was just our little family, with the addition of one sweet little dog, who deserves her own post and will get her moment in the sun at some point. Lily has made our home warmer (and much more hairy)...

'twas a puppet sort of Christmas

Just a little flyover- every year I think we had the sweetest Christmas. We are savoring these golden years.