Christmas. Mmmmmmmmmm. Love it!

We had a nice, peaceful Christmas at home.

Santa brought Neely a "bicycle with pedals" (one would have to understand that her previous bicycle had no pedals--she's had a "walking bike" since she was 2, and thanks to the wonders of that walking bike, at 3 1/2 she's riding her big-girl bike nix training wheels!). She also got a "salon" with which she has played "Honey's shop" in our living room. She even went so far with that one as to call Tripp's dad the next morning and say "Be here in three minutes." So he walked over, bringing Honey along, because the pair of them thought we might have breakfast prepared. Little did Boo know Neely did not have any food to offer, but was taking him up on his own offer the night before to "make an appointment" sometime. He obliged, and received a wash, trim and style before resuming his normal activities for the day. Tripp and I are looking sharp, since we've each received several such appointments in the past days.

Neely also received a pair of Fisher Price roller skates from Cricket, and a very large doll house from Honey (complete with dolls from Grandma). The last gift has been extremely popular in this cold weather, and she spends up to an hour at a time in her room playing in her new little make-believe world. 

Tomorrow a.m. we're off to Gainesville/Athens for Christmas with my side of the fam. We're starting off with a bang in the morning, meeting Mom, Mit and Granddaddy at Babyland General in Cleveland for Neely to receive her last major gift, and to see where the Cabbage Patch dolls are born. Goodness! What will we do with all this new stuff?!

More to come.

Fun little notes:

Neely's using "big words" in their proper contexts these days, and it cracks us up! The other morning, Tripp was helping her dry off after her bath and asked her if she thought she was dry enough to get dressed. She felt her skin and said, "I'm not 'absolutely' dry." Ha!

This morning, she informed Tripp she wanted to watch "Bump car racing," which he translated as the rally car races (the cars that go over bumps) he often records and watches from one of those obscure Direct TV channels. She then told him she planned to race "bump race cars" one day, and that she would drive while her daddy would "sit" (also known as the "navigator" position). We got a good laugh out of that one!

Okay. I give. Writing's my thing, so it's about time I started one of these. And I so enjoy reading all my friends' updates, keeping up with their families.

Mind you all, I still have a good bit to learn. I will need to improve the appearance of our simple "template" to suit my tastes, and Tripp will have to teach me how to add photos. Those who know me well will recall I can barely operate my own cell phone. 

At this moment, my little family is well, overall. Neely and I are getting over a case of the early-fall sniffles that Tripp had last week--love working with all those kiddos at the gym! She is in bed, after a rare reading of "Max and Wooby," which breaks a long chain of consecutive readings of Where the Wild Things Are, her current favorite. Today I caught her reading out of her "Bible book" (a book of daily devotions Grandma sent home with her because she was carrying it around pretending she was attending Bible study), and inserting "The wild things said 'Oh, please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so. And Max said, "No!"'" Too funny.

Since I'm imagining most of our updates will be about our beautiful little girl, I'll try as often as I can to let you know what Tripp and Megan are up to as well.

Tripp is gearing up for competition season, which begins in January. He is currently spending his free time fixing my poor little blue Scuby (the Subaru), which is down with engine trouble of some unidentifiable sort. That's the best I can do--I don't speak "auto." He has a little more free time than he did last year, especially since Neely started three-day preschool on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, which she LOVES! She comes home every time talking about her friends--something new for us! I'm so glad to see her flourishing, and am managing to keep a lid on my freakish tendencies to worry over germs and separation anxiety (mine, not hers).

Our family is absolutely loving our new church home, Four Corners Church. I'm hoping we get to know some of the other couples with kids in the near future. I know I need to get to know some other mommies. 

I am plugging away at school, with big plans to pursue some teaching and writing in Christian Apologetics (not as in saying I'm sorry, but from the Greek word that means to make a case for, or defend). I have no idea how to explain how this came to be "my thing," but I can't get enough of it! Last night I, with my pal Liz, devoured butter popcorn and Jones Cream Soda while watching the "Does God Exist" debate between William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens. It was an awesome thing to behold. All I can say is, this work in me must be a thing of God, and such a career should allow me to work from home while pursuing something I'm passionate about. In light of this, I'm sure you'll hear about some of the things I'm getting to learn.

In addition to school, I'm doing some writing and a little teaching for one of my apologetics heroes, Scott Klusendorf, President of Life Training Institute (www.prolifetraining.com). As God would have it, Scott moved from SoCal to Newnan, Ga., of all places. 

Other than all that, we're doing just fine in our cabin in the woods. Neely is growing like a weed, already 3 1/2 and capable of expressing all her thoughts, opinions and objections ("all" being the key word--she never stops!). We take things one day at a time around here. Until next time...in the words of Greg Koukl..."Go out and give 'em Heaven."