If its not broke, mess with it for a while and it will be.

First off, thank you to all of those I have ran into this Christmas season and mentioned that you keep up with us by reading the blog.  This made me realize I need to try and post a little more frequent.  This holiday season has been great!  Going back to Thanksgiving, spending time with family, laughing, joking, and sharing memories of years past.  This year Peggy's family made balkenbrij.    With all of her Uncles and Aunt together, it was a lot of fun being with them for an afternoon.  And the balkenbrij was wonderful, especially sliced thin, fried and on toast.  Mmmmm, mmmmm, good!  This recipe was derived from the Dutch Gods who thought lets throw all this in a pan and see if its edible.  Total winner on this one.

With Christmas coming fast and close on the heals of Thanksgiving we had to plan getting the house Christmasified.  It has long been a family tradition of putting the Christmas tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We missed it by about a week.  But got it up none the less.  We also opted to simplify this year.  We overdid inside and didn't put up anything outside.  I like doing this a lot.  It made the house feel a lot warmer with all the lights up and other nick-nacks setting around.  

We also had some really emotional times this Christmas.  We had some wonderful Angels do a "doorbell ditch" and leave a big box of wrapped presents on our front porch.  It was for the 12 days of Christmas.  The kids were so excited, there was a note that said open now.  So the kids started opening the presents that night.  About halfway through we realized it was for the 12 days of Christmas and discussed what to do now that half of the gifts were open.  They chose to open them all and make sure that we do stuff every night as a family.  The best part of all of this is the realization that through all that is going on this season, that there are still people who have our happiness on the front of their minds.  We also had one other Angel drop some stuff off at our house.  Lets just say, we had some major blessings this year and some prayers were answered.  I can definitely say that God hears our prayers and uses everyday people like you and me to answer those prayers.  I thank Heaven for those who listen to the inspiration from the Lord to have a good impact in others lives.  We took some time this Christmas to discuss how important it is to pay it forward.  Because there may always be a time when situations out of your control put you in a position where others may pay it forward to you.  

As the new year approaches, we have the opportunity to set goals and resolutions for the upcoming year.  I encourage you to set lofty goals that  you have control over.  I will be posting another blog when I get my goals finalized.  I know one of them will be to blog more consistently.  I enjoy sharing things with my friends, and family.  As I have traveled this long path you all have become my family, through prayers, and good thoughts sent our way, we have all become closer than friends.

May the Good Lord bless you and keep you safe.

Merry Christmas and have a Lovely Day,

Love Andy, Peggy, and the Kids.