Week 72 - Bearded

Twas the week after Christmas (Dec. 29 - Jan. 4) and all through the house

Were gifts still wrapped and a very happy mouse

The cold weather had driven the rodents all in

And daddy had to remove them again.

Hannah was opening yet more gift

The box full of blocks and the paper was ripped

But one rip or two, she still couldn't quite see

So Dad and Mom helped to expose what's beneath

Blocks are so fun, can't you see?

Towers and tunnels and houses for me

And when it's all built, I swipe right on through

With my hand or my foot, to start building anew.

"Who me? I couldn't have knocked down the tower. It must've been Mommy."

I'm not much of a poet, but since we got that book for Hannah this year, it seemed fun to parody it for just a minute. Hannah's Christmas continued and this week she moved on to a new solid food - celery. Celery seems to be a great thing for her as she has two teeth to catch the fiber a bit and the body of the celery give her something to bite down on with her gums. Our daughter is such a healthy little girl.

One of the little blessings this Christmas has been how much some of our family has bought into Hannah's education fund. Yes, education is really important to us both and we indicated early on that more practical use of money gifts towards her education fund would be something she would appreciate down the road when she was older. I know in our family that she will learn the value of education and be very thankful for this support. And I am grateful to our family for being practical and loving -giving a gift like that isn't always exciting, but it's not gifts that are exciting that always matter. We aren't saving a lot, but it will add up over time and this is a gift that means a difference for Hannah's future.


This week is nearly all relaxing or visiting with family. I've been messing with gadgets, cleaning up spots in the basement and just trying to get some extra reading done in my spare time. Not much going on at work. In fact, the only other big news is that I am settling into my winter beard quite comfortably. I finally had to trim it up a bit and tame down the wild man, but my wife doesn't hate it entirely. In fact, I shaved it all off once back at Thanksgiving and she told me didn't care. So the new plan is to let it grow up a bit. Hannah seems to like grabbing at it and my face keeps a bit warmer in this cold. It has been so blasted cold lately. We already cancelled the beginning of classes and closed the university due to the cold and it doesn't look to let up soon. The only warmth this week came from the Spartans at the Rose Bowl. Finally, finally, finally! What a great triumph for a team that knows the meaning of struggles and failure. Victory tastes so much sweeter when you can still remember the feeling of defeat.