Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all our family and friends. The morning broke bright and clear this fine Christmas day with the hoarfrost covering the plants and trees. The view off of our balcony was enchanting.

After a fine breakfast of homemade biscuits, rösti potatoes and apfelmus we enjoyed a quiet morning celebrating the birth of Jesus together. Since our apartment is quite small and we don't have much room for a tree, so we have made due with what we have. Delynn had brought our Christmas stockings that mother Ruth made and the angel was a secret santa gift from a friend at RIA. The holy family wood carving is new this year - we picked it up at the Christmas market in Basel from the carver who makes them. It is a nice piece.

We had such fun opening the wonderful presents our family sent. We savored each one as we traded turns. A Pendleton blanket, a fine pen set, a fleece and turtle neck sweater, movies, Crisco and brown sugar, movies, Chili mix and espresso cups were just a few of the many nice gifts we received. Being here, we are so very thankful that God has given us such wonderful family (and not just because of the presents...)

As we opened each present, we maticulously separated the tape from the packaging, the paper from the plastic and built fine little piles for recycling - it was slightly humorous but is rather second nature by now... We then gathered our little piles and put them aside for a trip to the recycling yard on Saturday.

I must be my parents' son. Dad and Mom Walz picked up a Sodoku book for Delynn's stocking. Well, unbeknownst to them, I had also picked up a Sodoku book for Delynn. My version was in German, naturally while theirs was written in English. Sudoku itself is language neutral. When Delynn pulled them both out of her stocking, I noticed that the back cover graphic looked identical - differing only in language. Further investigation showed that indeed, the books were both created by the same publisher (in England) but with of course, the necessary language changes for the chosen target market. To our relief, the puzzles are indeed different so it was not a wasted effort but an interesting story.

We also made a short video with our Christmas Greeting to all. Unfortunately I have been unsuccessful uploading to the blog - oh bother. I will try again later to see if we can keep the connection long enough to get it to you.

To all we wish a very happy Christmas, a blessed day to all! We love you and miss you.