Merry Christmas to me!

The shortest day of the year(in the northern hemisphere) has passed. It was Friday the 21st or Saturday the 22nd depending on your location. It officially occurred at 1:08am EST on the 22nd, which would be 9:08pm on the 21st my time. Our shortest day was 5 and a half hours long with the sun rising at 11am and setting at 4:30pm. Now the days will start to get longer. Tomorrow will be 26 seconds longer. Yay! for longer days.
We had this really weird, sticky snow about a week or two ago. It covered everything and stuck to all the vertical surfaces. It kind of looked like that fake spray on snow that they spray on Christmas trees to make them look snowy. It stuck around for days that way too.

It really looked like a winter wonderland out there. It was very pretty, but kind of eerie too.
Last night at about 9:30pm, there was knock at the door which was unusual because we hardly ever get knocks on our door, especially that late. It was the UPS delivery and they brought me two boxes. I got some really great Christmas presents in those boxes! Even back home these would be great presents, but here they are amazing because i cant get these kinds of things here in Bethel. Thanks Kevin for the three on the right...You rock! And thanks Kassia for the one on the left...You rock too! I ran around the house opening the boxes and singing, "Merry Christmas to me, Merry Christmas to me, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas to me!" (you have to sing it to the happy birthday music). Avery really liked his presents too. He started listening to the music cd right away and has attempted to watch the HP movie twice, but then got distracted by other things. It's so nice to be thought of during the holidays...hopefully these gifts will help keep me warm through the long winter ahead.
I went to a cookie exchange party yesterday. I took 4 dozen ginger cookies and came home with 4 dozen other cookies. There was food and drinks and I got to meet some new people. It was good fun and the first time I've been to a cookie exchange.

Avery went to his first Boy Scouts meeting on Wednesday. They were just having their Christmas party, so they didnt have any actual Boy Scouts type lessons. They had alot of fun and all the boys there seemed really nice and like good kids. The type of kids I would like Avery to make friends with. About half of them were my 8th grade students.