We were lucky to have many visitors in the month of December, beginning with an old Ottawa friend Jim Elliott who introduced us to Joan Anne. They made the pilgrimage to the COSCO store in Charleston from Beaufort, SC where they hibernate from Canadian winters. After a day of shopping they joined us for dinner in town and spent the night in the frog (family room over the garage) before heading back south. It was fun catching up and swapping tall stories from the foreign service.
Next came Cira Pereira with daughter Celina on the way back from Tampa. They brought the rain with them, and boy did it rain - over 5 inches. Rain notwithstanding, Donna's flight was on time and we had a nice visit despite David's efforts at cooking dinner. Cira and Celinas departure the next day was tentative given that 5 inches of rain translated into two feet of snow in the Washington area. It took them two full days of driving to get home.
The next week, Liam came back bringing his parents and stayed through the holidays. As you can see from the photos, he was the center of attention as he experienced his first Christmas. The weather treated us well and Stu, joined us for golf and we managed to fit in some biking and the gym whenever we felt guilty from overeating. I think Noelle & Stu enjoyed the occasional break from parenting and found time for shopping, a movie and lots of lazing about time. Donna and Dave enjoyed waking up with a little "elf" in the bed as Noelle passed Liam to us so that she could go back to bed and sleep in. We all wonder how Liam is going to adjust to life back in Toronto where he won't have a crowd of people to entertain him and no paparazzi photographing his every move!
It was a great December!
