Merry Christmas.......

to all our friends and family. We are thrilled to have the 'Baltimore Kirkwoods' here to share this special time with us.

One of Janet's surprise Christmas gifts for Keith was two Seahawks tickets for today's game against the San Diego Chargers so he and his dad left about 9:30 to catch the train to Seattle. it is cloudy and cool outside with a good possibility of showers, but we hope the weather at least stays dry.

Since Craig, Cassie, and Greta were headed to Oregon to spend Christmas with Cassie's parents in Stayton, we all met at the Hawks Prairie Restaurant yesterday morning for breakfast. Greta will stay with her grandparents for the next week or so, this was the only chance for Greta to meet Keith and Janet and the girls. And like the rest of us, they all thought Cassie was great and Greta quite precocious.

As luck would have it, Santa and his wife sat down at a table near us for breakfast. He wasn't wearing his full formal red suit, but he had on a red shirt, and had glasses and a beautiful full white beard. Colleen and Greta approached him after he had finished breakfast and Greta announced she had a question for him. "Where are your reindeer?" He told her they were still at the North Pole. And he gave her his business card. Of course we have a picture, which I will post at a later date, and it couldn't have turned out any better if we had tried.

We will go to church this evening and then come home for our traditional fondue supper. And even though we have no need to wait for Santa, we will wait and open our gifts in the morning. We usually have seafood for Christmas dinner, but this year we are going to be even more traditional and have prime rib and Yorkshire pudding.

Brian, Sheila and the boys are spending their Christmas at the condo in McCall. I think Brian has to work next week, but they will go back up for New Year's week end.

I hope all of you are well and happy this Christmas season. Ciao