The Blue Dress . . .

. . . has been around since 1977 when Marilyn Grube gave it to Emily as a baby gift. I loved the smocking and saved the dress for Emily's 6-month picture, which turned out to be one of my all-time favorite baby pictures of her. When Melanie came along, the blue dress came out of the cedar chest as good as new. So 8 years later, I had Melanie's picture taken in the dress at age 6 months. It turned out to be a favorite as well, and I have had the 8X10 pictures of Emily and Melanie in a double frame somewhere in my house for the last 21 years. Who could blame me? Aren't they adorable?


Not long ago I got out my box of baby stuff to see what I might have in the way of blankets and baby stuff for Katy. (I had to set up a crib and everything, of course!) Lo and behold, there was the blue dress! And it is just as sweet today as it was 29 years ago. I promptly washed the outfit and gave it to Emily asking her to get Katy's picture taken in it for me so I could add to my collection. The Christmas portraits were the perfect occasion, and Emily did a quick change and had Katy photographed in my favorite dress. The outcome is stunning! She does look a little like her mommy.

Greg (or maybe it was Brian) has already asked me if I will also require any future grandsons to be photographed in the dress. I certainly will come up with another outfit for a boy . . . just as long as it is blue. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

What a wonderful holiday! First we went to Granny and Grandpa's house for our usual family get together on Saturday. This was special because we started the kids table again with little Katy and her even newer cousin Gabe! It was great fun to pass them around and eat the spinach and artichoke dip that Bonnie made along with all the other goodies. Oh, yeah, and we opened some presents, of course.

Sunday morning Greg and I went off to church to visit our old friends and really enjoyed the orchestra and the choir and the singing of the old carols. After church we went to the Melodee for a neat Christmas Eve lunch with Melanie and Granny and Grandpa. Then it was off to Columbus to catch up with Brian and Emily and Katy.

Christmas morning was a bit disjointed since Katy only lasted through two presents before she needed a nap to recover from her travels. So we unwrapped the rest of the big people gifts and ate waffles and waited for her to wake up. She eventually did, and she managed to get the rest of her stuff out of the wrapping paper. She actually played with some of it, too! The rest of the day we chilled out. Emily and I went for a walk in the rain and then Melanie joined us in the kitchen to cook the first Christmas dinner---or any dinner---in the new kitchen! And it was delicious! Cornish hens and sweet potatoes and stuffing and corn and the best pie you could ever taste. Brian and Greg even carried Melanie's bookcase over to her place and put it together after dinner. We then fell into bed exhausted.


Tuesday saw Brian and Emily and Katy off to visit cousins in Cincinnati while Greg and Melanie and I scooted off to Pittsburgh---again in the rain. But it has been a great holiday with lots of fun and hugs and food. What a truly great time it has been. Tomorrow, back to work. Hope I remember what I do there . . . .

With Christmas only 8 days away, I guess it is time to think about the annual Christmas letter. This has been a year with several new beginnings.



Melanie gave up her spot as the youngest in the family this year as Brian and Emily welcomed Kathryn Faith to the family on May 19. Melanie became “Aunt Mel” and I became “Oma” and Brian and Emily became “Daddy” and “Mommy.” Granny and Grandpa retained their names as we added a new generation.

Besides becoming an aunt, Melanie realized her dream of becoming an OSU student this fall after transferring in as a junior. She attended the OSU game against Michigan and just got back from a trip to New Orleans to help with continuing clean-up from hurricane Katrina.

Brian and Emily have managed to remodel their kitchen along with being parents. Brian has done some amazing work in the kitchen, and you can see pictures on the Katydid blog at http://brianemily.blogspot.com.

Greg and I went to Niagara Falls in July, and we stayed in a B&B on the Canadian side. We also managed to fit a trip to the Outer Banks into the schedule in September. It is so relaxing to walk on the beach and to drink our coffee while we watch the ocean in the morning. There just isn’t anything that quite compares to it. May all of our vacations be forever near the water.

Our church is an important part of our lives with our wonderful home group and the things we do with the worship ministry. Greg’s employer sold off part of his business in November, and so there are changes in the works there that look positive. There have been some changes where I work as well, and I now have a shorter commute and free parking. The work is pretty much the same; only the view has changed.

As we start a new year on the calendar, the only sadness is that another year has passed without seeing some of you. May this letter carry with it some of the hugs and wishes that we haven’t been able to bring personally.

Merry Christmas!