Back At It

Between work, preparations for Christmas, and a laptop that quit on Christmas Day (Merry Christmas from HP - just 39 days after the 12-month warranty expired), it has been a long time since I posted. We had a lovely holiday that included a trip to Minnesota and lots of time with both sets of grandparents and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. This year we decided to stay in a hotel (with points, not $ - in case you were thinking I'd won the lottery) and found it reduced everyone's stress levels. Mia is generally a pretty good traveler, considering how difficult air travel is these days. However, she can get cranky when she is over-stimulated. Staying at a hotel was a perfect solution - they had less than 10% occupancy so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

We didn't buy Mia too many gifts this year. (And if I haven't mentioned it, we've decided not to play up Santa here.) It didn't seem sensible or necessary - I haven't even put all her birthday presents into play yet. She got some great gifts from our relatives, including Kai-Lan's Trip to China DVD (I bet she'd watch it 5 or 6 times a day if we let her), a baby carriage with removable carrier, a PlayMobil greenhouse set, and an airplane. Mia is really into pretend play now, so we're having a lot of fun. Too bad the relatives aren't here to see how much enjoyment she is getting from these. And, I'm really glad we kept it modest on our end.

As for me, I have been getting some contract work and the prospects for 2010 are looking up. As far as the computer is concerned, I decided that as an independent consultant without a company Help Desk to call, it made sense to switch to a Mac. So far, so good.

Hope you liked the Christmas card. I didn't get around to designing and making them until mid-December, whereas I used to start them in August! It was wonderful to get pictures of so many of our China travel companions - what a beautiful bunch of girls they are.