Merry Christmas!

Being first-time homeschoolers, we arrogantly thought we'd do school straight through Christmas break.  Well...we didn't.  I'm kidding about the arrogant part, but we were a little surprised to find that, as much as we enjoy school, we did actually want a change of pace for a while.  It was nice just to hang out with family and do Christmasy things without having to worry about schedules and checklists, for a while.

One of the highlights of the Christmas break was a long weekend in Sunriver with the Diefenbaugh side of the family.  We had a blast playing in the snow, playing games, and chatting with family.

This was one of the rare years that we actually spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home.  We did our usual traditions of watching a movie (Polar Express this year), drinking cocoa, and opening PJs on Christmas Eve.  Then the we opened stockings and presents in the morning, after reading the Christmas story.

Because of schedules, we had our Brownlee-side Christmas on New Year's Day in Eugene.  We had our traditional dinner at the Oregon Electric Station and opened gifts in the evening.  The kids enjoyed performing piano pieces and playing with their grandparents and cousins.

We had a great Christmas, and we are looking forward to another wonderful year!