Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas Y'all

I didn't get Christmas cards sent out this year. I really meant to. I even bought cards made here in Malawi by a talented artist in the embassy community. I forgot one thing though. Stamps. I didn't ship stamps to post and you can't buy them here but you do need them to send outgoing mail. We are ordering some and will be back in the snail mail business soon. In the meantime a bloggy Christmas greeting to all my family and friends will have to do. Merry Christmas to everyone!

This is our tree this year. It is so encrusted with ornaments it is hard to see the tree. Just the way I like it!

Some of the ornaments like this pretty glass leaf were gifts from dear friends over the years. This one dates back to my teaching days. It is one of a set of three and they were a gift from my co-teacher, another Shannon. We ran the 2nd grade Shannon and Shannon show for a few years. Good times!

Some of the ornaments like this Snow Baby were inherited from Dave's mom Annette and her husband Ray. We miss them still but can't help but to smile as we hang the ornaments on the tree for their grandkids each year.

A lot of the ornaments are ones we have collected over the years. Each person gets a new ornament each year. With six people in the family that adds up to a whole lot of ornaments real quick. The pewter ornament with the three little bears is my ornament from 1998. That is the first year David, Dakota, and I spent Christmas together as a family. This year is the first year we will spend Christmas without Dakota. Where has the time gone?

This year my favorite ornament is this little mouse who has climbed up onto the spire and is all tangled up in the lights. He is just too cute sitting up there all by himself.

6 comments:

LeesOnTheGo said...

Beautiful tree, Shannon! Merry Christmas to you and may your first Malawian Christmas be full of fond memories!

Blessings from one American in Africa to another~
NKL

Daniela Swider said...

Lovely! Merry Christmas!

http://abebedorespgondufo.blogs.sapo.pt/ said...

Very good blog.
Happy New Year 2011.

Jen said...

Love the ornaments and (belated) Merry Christmas to you!

Just US said...

and a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Shannon said...

Shannon, I'm just getting caught up on my blog reading, and I see the close-up of your tree with the ornament from me. It was good times running the second grade! The funny thing though, is that if you look back on Facebook of the Christmas picture of Murphy, you will see a Texas shaped ornament that was from you! We made a Christmas card of that pic, and actually sent it out. I kept saying to Dave... too bad I don't have the address in Malawi, because Shannon's ornament is front and center. I'm really glad we are back in contact after all these years. Happy New Year! Peace, Shannon