Christmas 2009

Pecan Jewels and Grandma Truesdale's White Christmas Cookies.... my two favorites.After the Christmas Eve service at church (in which Kiff and I sang in the choir and had a blast!), we had tomato-potato soup and a little family game of Rummy.

Christmas morning I was too busy opening my presents to take many pictures!! But here are a few...

Our afternoon family game of Scrabble. I do believe Phil won. I got stuck with a Z I couldn't use. :(
The entire day was all foggy and magical outside. This was taken out our back door.
Christmas night, Jeff and Kiff played a few 60s and 70s tunes together.
Allie enjoying the music.
The four of us in New Jersey, two days after Christmas. Notice my beautiful new purple Eddie Bauer sweater!!
Kiff with her Grandma ~ Jeff's mom ~ in New Jersey.
While we were with Jeff's parents, I grilled them about their ancestry... And came up with a little family tree and some interesting fun facts... Jeff's dad dug out a few old photos and an old wedding record book, all of which was so fascinating!! I think it's so important to have knowledge of our ancestry. I imagine someday my great grandchildren might not even know my name, or anything about me, and that makes me a little sad. So I like to find out about my ancestors as much as I can. As it turns out, Jeff has great-grandparents from Belfast (where my great-grandparents are from), and both Jeff and I are of German and English and Irish descent.

Here's Jeff grandfather, Edwin Elmer Case:And here's Edwin's mother, Jeff's great-grandmother, Martha Spoonenberger Case, whose husband died and who put her son through college by selling books door to door!!
Pretty neat, huh?

The Big Snow!!

I'm not sure how many inches we got here in Virginia... I think somewhere around 16-20. The bummer was that Saturday night (which was in the middle of the snowstorm) we had tickets to see Handel's Messiah at the Kennedy Center in DC! I had called on Friday to see if it was cancelled, and they said nope, it was still on. And the tickets were non-refundable. SO....... we tried our best to get out. Around noon, Jeff got my RAV4 to the end of the driveway, where it promptly got stuck... There was simply no getting out. And with Jeff's recent surgery, he wasn't in the position to do much shoveling. Phil had been snowed in at a friend's house, so we were on our own. I wanted to go out and shovel the car out, but my back had been hurting over the past few weeks, so we knew that wasn't very smart.... But in the end, the Kennedy Center did decide to cancel the show after all, and we were refunded. But I was kind of disappointed! One, because we really wanted to see the show, and Kiff was going to go with us (she was really disappointed too). And two, because I was gearing up for an adventure. :( But I know it would have been dangerous had we persevered in venturing out. They were saying there were accidents all over the place...

Anyway, it sure was pretty. Especially when viewed from the warm indoors. :)



Phil was home by Sunday morning, and he did a ton of shoveling. So nice to have a strong young man around. :) Jeff did a little as well. And he paid for it! He isn't supposed to be shoveling snow this early after his surgery.

And do you believe, the snow is almost completely gone now?? It's been above freezing, and then we had a couple days of rain, so almost all the snow got washed away. We hear more might be coming, though........ We'll see!

My Sister Graduated from Nursing School!

And I am so proud of her!! I know nursing school was super challenging... Many times she felt overwhelmed and wanted to quit... But she pressed through and not only graduated, but graduated with a 4.0!!!! Wow Mary!!!!! She has her Master of Science as a Clinical Nurse Leader from the University of Maryland. She'll take her boards at the end of January and then begin her first nursing job in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville - right next to the hospital where Rob works!! It's exactly where she wanted to work, and in the exact unit she wanted to work in. Soooo happy for her! And grateful for God's favor.

We began the festivities at McCormick & Schmick's at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Delicious food, beautiful surroundings, fantastic company!

Chip and Kathy (Rob's parents)

Peter, Rob's younger brother, and Jane, who is married to Rob's older brother Steve (who couldn't be there)
After dinner, we went on over to the Baltimore campus of the University of Maryland, where the Pinning Ceremony took place. Lots of happy grads and proud family members and friends. :)

Rob has been a constant source of encouragement for Mary. Mary said that she couldn't have made it through without him.

Proud big sis

Christmas Tree

Just put up our Christmas tree this past weekend! Fake Christmas trees might be easier and, in the long run, less of an expense... But cutting down a tree has its own magic that makes it worth it for us! Besides, it's a Case family tradition. :) Here we are at Snickers Gap Christmas Tree Farm outside Round Hill, VA.
Here's the one we decided on. Phil cut it down. And yes, it's HUGE!! We didn't realize how big it was until we got it home...



Like I said. Huge. It barely fits! But it sure is beautiful, and it has a wonderful scent too.
Some of my favorite ornaments...

This one Nancy gave me years and years ago.
One of many in a snowman set the Cases have had for years.
Just got this one this year.
Also one of a set of many. These houses are Thomas Kincade-esque.
Hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season... 11 days until Christmas!

Jeff's Birthday

Christmas Party

Here we are before we left for Jeff's company Christmas Party on Saturday night. It was a lavish affair at a hotel in Chantilly, VA ~ dinner, dancing, a casino, lots of Wii game rooms, karaoke (I sang 4 songs... so fun!). We hardly knew anyone, because Jeff's company, General Dynamics, is humongous and he works in one small division. But that was okay ~ it was a lovely evening out, with free dinner at that.

Snow!!

We woke up on Saturday morning to a blanket of white, and the snow still coming down! So pretty. I jumped and exclaimed with joy like a six-year-old. :)

This is the view out our front window.And this is out the back.

Allie pouncing away... Wonder what's going on in that head of hers. :)

Kenya

Mom and Dad have gone off to Kenya for three weeks! This is a ministry trip, of course. Mary and I took them to the airport last Wednesday. We've had two emails from them since they've arrived in Kenya, and things are going very well. I'm so proud of Mom for taking the dive! As many of you know, Dad's been to Kenya (and India and China) several times already, but this is Mom's first trip to a third world country. She's always been trepidatious of heading so far from home, and to a place without the comforts and conveniences of the American lifestyle, but she put all that aside this time to join Dad in his ministry to believers in Kenya. Good for you, Mom!

Here we are at the airport..... Off they go!