Merry Christmas!!

So it has been a while since I got around to this....but with christmas shopping, decorating (even if we have gone minimal this year), end of year school parties, concerts, blah, blah, blah,......well life has just been a little crazy! But here we are - just three more days til Christmas and the kids are finally off school and I can relax and not have to wake up in the dark.......NOW it feels like Christmas:-) So here's some pics -
Putting up the Christmas tree (which gets redecorated by the girls EVERY day!)

Abbie's Christmas party at school
Jordan's Winter concert where he got to do a solo of Silent Night (he was the only 4th Grader doing a solo - and I think mainly as he begged and begged and begged his teacher for weeks to let him do it!) He did great:-)
Amelia's school Christmas program (she knew all the words to all the songs - and I promise she has a lovely voice, though her friend is obviously not enjoying something!)
They also had this kind of creepy puppet show with Grandma and Grandpa characters who were telling the kids the Christmas story - kinda cute but kinda creepy!
Anyway, it has been a crazy couple of weeks but now I am looking forward to a Christmas at home - actually will be our first time spending the whole Christmas by ourselves (OK so we have Ben, but he is one of the kids - no he's an adult - no he's one of the kids........one of these days we'll make up our minds on that!)

If you were ever concerned about the dangers of kissing??!......could potentially be quite useful when my kids are of kissing age:-)

Couples are advised to "proceed with caution"

A young Chinese woman was left partially deaf following a passionate kiss from her boyfriend.

The 20-something from Zhuhai in Guangdong province arrived at hospital having completely lost the hearing in her left ear, said local reports.

The incident prompted a series of articles in the local media warning of the dangers of excessive kissing.

"While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution," wrote the China Daily.

The doctor who treated the girl in hospital was quoted in the paper explaining what had happened.

"The kiss reduced the pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear."

The chorus of warnings was echoed by the Shanghai Daily, which wrote: "A strong kiss may cause an imbalance in the air pressure between two inner ears and lead to a broken ear drum."

The young woman is expected to regain her full hearing within about two months.