Hey there.

Yes, I know…it’s been a few. There’s been an awful lot going on.

Daphne’s strep has indeed cleared up, and thank you all for your well wishes.

I will say that having to pin her arms down while shooting amoxicillin into her mouth before school every morning was not my favorite way to start a day…but she’s better now as a result, so all’s well that ends well, I suppose.

She actually wrapped up her school for the year a little more than a week ago, and was sent home with this adorable little guy.

Inside were a few other crafts, a snowflake, a Christmas light, and a painted snowglobe, all of which are currently magnetized to our refrigerator.

So last Sunday, Christmas Eve-Eve, we went over to the Sugar Land Skeeters baseball field for their annual holiday lights event.

You get to walk a path around the perimeter of the field and all of the seats are lit up in various colors. These, in turn, light up your daughter in various colors.

They smartly had a beer tent open as well, complete with rocking chairs, firepits, and s’mores.

Daph got to run around and do her thing here while we sipped a beer and relaxed in front of the fire.

In all it was a really good time. Definitely worth checking out if you happen to be in the west Houston area during the holidays.

I had a couple more gifty things to pick up afterward (Christmas procrastinator that I am), and so I purposely waited until around midnight that night to run over to our new 24-hour Wal-Mart, thinking that the crowds wouldn’t be so bad.

Which was a very correct assumption.

Judging by the cars in the lot, there were something like 4 people there…but I never saw them.

No one but me and Mac, the janitor bot.

I even checked out by myself at the self-service stations.

It was, in all honesty, a little spooky.

But I picked up what I needed, at which point Christmas was officially a “GO!”

And as it turns out, Santa would do his part too, and he dropped off presents for a particularly good little girl that we all adore.

He brought a Big Wheel…

And some new artwork that he knew Daphne would like…

That last one was particularly interesting, as Santa must have had to take her old picture down off the wall while she slept, and swap it out with the new one.

Sneaky Santa.

And finally, he brought a little something for the entire family…

Yes, there are fish in the house now.

Jen picked out all of the decor and artfully arranged their ichthy-condo, and I handled the biological additives and chemicals.

We dropped our first two fish (Lewis and Clark) into the tank last night, and I’m happy to report that they are both still alive and zooming around the tank (as of the time of this writing, anyway), blazing a trail along the nitrogen cycle and laying the groundwork for all the settler fish to follow.

It was a fun Christmas all around, and Daphne loved all of her gifts.

Finally, we went out on a post-Christmas sailing trip with the Sailing Angels on Friday, cruising around the Kemah harbor.

Daphne loved the rocking of the boat and, much like her daddy, seemed to find it soothing. So much so that she fell asleep on the way back to the dock.

Was a really good time, and we’re very appreciative of the folks at Sailing Angels, and for the people at Hope for Three for setting us up with them.

Speaking of Hope for Three, you’ll find a familiar face (and writing style) on their website, talking about a particular little mermaid.

Okay, I think I’ve gotten everyone caught up. There’s more to talk about, of course, but that will have to wait for next time.

We hope your Christmas was every bit as merry as ours.

See you soon.

j.s.