Merry Birthday Party

The Pileggis, Bowmans, Janelle and our family have a tradition of getting together in early December to exchange our gifts. This year has only one exception: Janelle. We were so sad that she couldn't be with us this year, but the great thing was I managed to borrow of a wonderful piece of technology. A webcam. On Saturday we were able to call her in Zambia and talk with her "face to face." I don't know how much sense she made of the chaos here, but it was good to see her and allow the kids to wave, show her their gifts and blow kisses. Electricity and internet service are moody over there, so we eventually lost sound, but the video came through very clear.

We were able to exchange gifts for Christmas in the morning and celebrate Marshall and Shaylen's birthday in the afternoon. We had two special guests arrive for the birthday party: Papa Mac and his neighbor and our friend Norm Dyer. It was so good to see both of them. What a treat to have them travel all the way down here. That meant a lot to us.

And what celebration between all of us would be complete without Mike Bowman coaxing Enzo into divulging what his gift is? Enzo was a good helper all morning in picking up trash and helping people unwrap their presents. Mike found his opportunity and asked. Enzo blurted out, "It's an apron!" Sure enough. It was. We got a good laugh out of it because he had done the same thing last year with Mike's set of grill tools. We all know that Mike has that little guy wrapped around his little finger.

It was a memorable Birthday/Early Christmas celebration and we were so thankful for our friends near and far.