Brett had a 2 week break from work that matched up perfectly with Nora's 2 week break from school... but there was no break in our activity level, as is the case with everyone throughout Christmas! We have had a great time these last few weeks, lots of fun with family and friends. The elves arrived a week and a half into December on their favorite mode of transportation: snowflakes. The shoes were out every night and Flizzby outdid himself -- he did not miss a single night! He wins for the gift most treasured by Nora this year: a red sparkly headband with a bow (you'll see it in many of our Christmas pictures!) We suspect he also had another elf-in-training along with him since John will be old enough to participate in the elf tradition next year. Nora participated in a Christmas pageant through Sunday school... the video is not on this computer, I'll try to put it up soon. We got a new computer and have been switching from one to the other, and we also got a new camera, so the early part of the season was on one camera, Christmas on was on the new camera! We met Santa for the first time this year. We traveled to the Kalamazoo area twice and had a great time with our families there and relatives (and friends!) who were in from out of town. The kids switched their typical in-car behavior: Nora slept on the way home and John stayed awake the entire ride! Brett's sister and husband were in town for the holidays as were my sister and her fiance, so we really felt like we got to spend time with so many people we loved. We are also all waiting on the arrival of Nora and John's new cousin, who is due in about 2 more weeks: we missed seeing his parents-in-waiting but understand you need to stay close to the hospital when you're in the home stretch!
For the first time in I-don't-know-how-long Brett and I went out for New Year's Eve to a party at our friends' home, complete with a live performance by Finderz Keeprz. Keep your eye on i-tunes, they should be popping up there any day now. So much fun! And we made it home safe and sound, in spite of my growing mistrust of other people on the road that night!
We're always reminded at this time of year of how well loved we are by so many generous souls -- here's hoping you all know you are as well-loved by us! Merry Christmas and wishing you a very happy, healthy, peace-full and love-filled New Year.
Love,
The Huffmans
PS: If you didn't see it, scroll down to the post right before this one for a video of Nora's super fantastic birthday wonder candle in action, a mini-video by Brett. It makes me laugh out loud every time, hopefully you'll at least get a smile from it!
PPS: No, there is no ultrasound picture if you go all the way to the end of our long Christmas post this year! :)
Christmas Morning
Nora's new stocking... John's should be done in time for Christmas 2010
Santa...
Santa comes through! This is the exact Lightning McQueen Race Track Nora asked Santa for (on behalf of herself and John) when we went to see him.
John = equally thrilled with Santa's gifts. He kept laying on the box.
Nora's Birthday Party
This is the best shot we have... hopefully someone else did better. Brett's cousin Jon stopped by with his wife Karen and their new baby boy Max... we tried to get a picture of all three kids but two were not cooperating. They were ours. Stinkers.
Something new... Brett asked John to smile for a photo and this is what we got. Just as Nora is starting to outgrow her forced smile a bit!
wait for it.....
boo! guess who!
two kids in a box = pure joy. 
Grandpa Lon at his most hilarious! The kids were rolling with this version of peek-a-boo.
Aunt Amanda graciously invited Nora to help give Baby Kai (in the background) a bath, and we have multiple shots of Nora doing this cheesy pose while waiting for her turn to help! 
this was me documenting a nice moment in anticipation of everything going downhill very fast, since John loves to throw. I fully expected to be cleaning up paint for the rest of the day, but this went surprisingly well. Whew!
