At Claire's

Our Butterfly got holes in her ears for Christmas. Since her 8th birthday I told her she could get them anytime and we'd actually walked into "Claire's" twice to do it... and walked right back out with a stomach ache. This time, though, fashion trumped fear. While waiting in line, she did complain about that stomach, but was determined and we got it done. I asked if there was a discount since her name was the same as the store which got a good laugh but no rebate. I figured it was worth asking.

And by the way we had a nice, quiet holiday at home this year. We were privileged to have some special elves named Alisha and Tony do some high-quality wrapping for us at midnight Christmas Eve. The kids weren't up until seven Christmas morning, which was nice, and tore through their gifts with gusto. After opening up many expensive electronic gadgets, they ran to the table and spent an hour with the coloring books, crayons, and markers Santa left them. When Blake and I saw that we realized again we went overboard- the time-tested basics are all they need.

A special announcement: You will all be pleased to hear that my parents gave us a webcam which means we must upgrade our internet service: no more dial up! Now when you call us we will answer our phone, I promise.