Wow, this has been a busy month. I'm not surprised though as December always is busy. That is one reason we frequently don't do school during December. Last week, Rachael had the opportunity to dance with the Tapestry Dance Company in their production of "Mice and Music: A Jazz Nutcracker". The nutcracker music was jazzed up and the dancing was tap and jazz rather than ballet. It was really cool. They did a fabulous job. She was busy with that Monday thru Thursday, then danced at the Trail of Lights on Friday. To her, spending an entire week dancing is just like heaven.

Unfortunately, there were a few bad things that happened last week. Rachael was in her first car accident. She wasn't hurt at all and there is very little damage to the car thank goodness. Someone rear-ended her then took off. That same night, I found out that my Grandma Hess had passed away. I wasn't really surprised at all considering she was 95 and had been telling me for a few years that she was ready to go. I'm grateful I was able to see her in September when I was up there for my other grandmother's funeral. She will be missed though. Lastly, our heater went out on Thursday. It was a bit chilly that night, but not terribly so. It was fixed on Friday at the cost of $567. OUCH!!!!

Christmas was really good at the Hodge house. Stan and I both got our main gifts 6 weeks ago. We both got iPhones for Christmas. We love our iPhones and wonder what we ever did without them. We each got a few other items-I got some clothes and the boys got me some jewelry and Rachael got me a book. Stan got some new speakers for his computer and a desk calendar and the kids got him a book, a card shuffler and a shirt. The kids got lots of things, pretty much every thing they wanted. Rachael got lots of music, some clothes, 5 pairs of earrings and a game. Jeremy got some toys, Transformers, Imaginext, books, a model and some games. Andrew got some computer and Wii games, a DS game, a board game and a gaming chair. We bought each one of us a new game for our family game day. We play a game every Sunday afternoon. We have some unusual games that came from a comic store. We now have Martian Fluxx, Munchkin Bites, Bridge Troll, The Adventures and Boy Scout Monopoly. We have so much fun playing games as a family and these new games will make it more interesting.

I'll post some pictures of Christmas in just a little bit. It's game time now.