Happy Holidays

As much as I enjoy the holidays I'm always glad when they're over. Decorations up for a month is just about the right amount of time before I start getting tired of them. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to a wonderful 2009.

We had a very nice Christmas with lots of family. We weren't able to go to my sister and brother's house because it snowed too much in Granite Falls where they live so Bridget's family ended up staying with us the entire day, which was still fun. Here are some highlights of our Christmas.



The only thing Elliott had asked for was a juice box. I'm not sure where he got the idea that a juice box would be a good gift, but we...er, Santa Clause obliged. He brought Elliott an entire pack of juice boxes. When Elliott opened up the pack the first thing he did was to hand one out to everybody in the house. He's such a sweet little boy.

New Years was fun too. Jovana had several friends over and we had some family and friends over as well (the Granite Falls' siblings were still stuck at their homes from snow). We played games and lit fire crackers when the new year came.

Here is a beautiful rendition of auld lang syne:



And for those of you who'd like to know a bit more about this song I stole this from a friend's blog ~ Thanks Kerstan:

The song is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. Written by Robert Burns in the 1700's (some claim only partially written by him), it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scotish tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."


TRADITIONAL LYRICS

Should old acquaintances be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld Lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

Verse Two

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang sine

Chorus (repeat)

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld Lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

-----

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

(Should old acquaintances be forgotten)
(and never remembered)
(Should old acquaintance be forgotten)
(For old long ago)

Chorus

(For old long ago, my dear)
( For old long ago)
(We will take a cup of kindness yet)
(For old long ago)

(And there is a hand my trust friend)
(And give me a hand of yours)
(And we will take of a good drink/toast)
(For old long ago)

(For old long ago, my dear)
( For old long ago)
(We will take a cup of kindness yet)
(For old long ago)