I should have known that Christmas 2009 couldn't just be a normal holiday for the Lewis family! It started off great with all three boys home

We enjoyed a fun get together on Christmas Eve with good friends & lots of delicious food.

There were plenty of presents under the tree

including this guaranteed 'male' pleaser.

Our traditional Christmas breakfast was especially good.

We agreed on a Christmas afternoon movie.

Then we ended up here!

Why you ask? Well George started having severe chest pain so we went directly from the movie to the ER where they found blood clots in his lungs. He spent the next three nights in the hospital. He was not enthusiastic about having his picture taken in his hospital bed for my blog. I decided under the circumstances to humor him! He's home now and on medication so he should be fine.

How many more days until 2010? It has to be a better year for our family!

That decorator touch!

Look what Matt & Scott did to their formerly blah, boring white and black bathroom! I think they may have futures as interior decorators or painters!

Job!

Here is George just about to hit the 'send' button to accept his new job! We're happy!

For the first time in 34 years I no longer have a husband who works for Hewlett Packard! Now I have a husband who works for Celstream.

Don't even ask me what they do exactly! The job will be similar to what he has been doing for HP the last few years and he is excited about it. That is what matters! We might be moving to Portland, Oregon in the summer unless George is traveling so much that it doesn't matter where he calls home! He'll be going to India and to New York regularly! Yes I am excited about the frequent flier miles!!!!! New adventures!!!

Christmas Cookie Elves

I remember when these boys were teenagers and no longer wanted to help with the Christmas baking. They thought they were too old and too 'cool' for that. Now they want to bake everyday...all the favorites from their childhood! Sugar cookies & candy cane cookies! They call me with recipe questions when I'm out. And I love it!!!

One of the best parts is that the cookies are yummy as well as being beautiful! I'm keeping the good old American tradition of 5+ pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years!

YW Christmas Tradition

Today was our 3rd annual YW Christmas Lunch. We kidnap all the girls immediately after Sunday School (with the Bishop's permission of course) and bring them over to our house for a special lesson & lunch. We listened to a beautiful guitar vocal by our only senior YW. (Boo hoo...we'll miss you Kristen!) A Dad of three of our YW did a masterful job of introducing the theme for next year which is, "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:9) Another one of the Dads makes crepes for us each year so we get to enjoy those with ham and turkey and cheese sauce, as well as berry & banana crepes with homemade chocolate sauce & caramel sauce and lots of whipped cream! Some of the girls start with the dessert crepes! Isn't the saying, "Life is short, eat dessert first." Oh yes, we polished off a huge crock pot full of potato casserole as well. Talk about a yummy meal!

I can't tell you how much I love these girls and how much I enjoy being around them. I'm so blessed with this calling.

A Passage to India

George is in India for a job interview. No the job doesn't require relocating to India! Just trips there 2 - 3 times a year. I'm counting (and dreaming of using) the 'mileage plus' miles before they are even earned!

His first stop was Singapore which was 'all decked out' for Christmas!

Next stop, Bangalore, India! In George's words:

I took these out of the car window on the way to the office. The traffic pictures don't do justice to the absolute pandemonium on the roads. After doing it for a couple of days, it seems worse than I remember for Cairo.

The scaffolding is wood poles lashed together with ropes. No the job George is pursuing is not in construction!

Goodbye BC!

This has not been a good year for the Lewis Family pets! Our 16 year old cat BC passed away quite unexpectedly December 2. I took her to the vet to have her nails trimmed and she got extremely stressed on the table. We thought she would calm down when we got her home but she kept getting more and more agitated. When we had been home less than an hour she was no longer able to walk. George & I rushed her back to our vet where her distress continued eventually causing her death. From time of the nail trim to her death was about 1 hour 15 minutes. So shocking! The doctor's best guess is that she had clots in her heart and when her blood pressure went up, one left her heart and lodged near her femoral artery causing paralysis.

We've all been wondering if BC & Cirera are living happily together in heaven. BC didn't like the dog at all here on earth but if the 'lamb and the lion can lie down together' surely one cat and one dog can live together in peace!

George & I realized that this is the first time since spring of 1976 that our home hasn't had a pet! The end of an era.