Another year has come and gone, though it’s hard to believe. In fact, it seems like only yesterday we were huddled around our keyboards worried about Y2K, and now here we are at the dawn of a new decade, the “Twenty-Tens”. As everyone knows, Christmas is my favorite time of year, and it is made all the more special when sharing it with my wonderful family.

Riley and Veronica really enjoyed the Christmas season, and would wait with great anticipation for the outside lights to come on every night. They rushed from window to window oooh-ing and aah-ing, and clapping for the lights. Each morning while they were waiting for breakfast we’d do a countdown to turn on the tree in the living room, and each day they applauded like it was the best thing ever.

December packed an early winter’s punch for Northern VA, with a minor snowstorm on December 5th followed by the unprecedented “Snowpocalypse” from December 18-20. When it was all over we’d gotten about two feet of snow, and I was very thankful for the snowblower Dad gave us as a housewarming gift six years ago.

Candy’s parents flew up from GA on the 23rd to spend Christmas with us, and in spite of a cooking faux pas (I accidentally turned off the oven when I meant to only turn off the timer), our Christmas Eve dinner was very well received (if a little late). On Christmas morning, the twins could not have been more excited to see all the gifts under the tree, including a rocking giraffe! They had a wonderful time and we were glad Candy’s parents could share it with us. There wasn’t much time before we put them on a plane back to GA and we loaded up the car to drive to NY for Murphy Christmas!

Murphy Christmas was tons of fun as always, and it was great to see all the cousins together. They are going to be great friends as they get older being so close in age. The highlight was a party at Aunt Ann’s where most of the US-based Murphy cousins gathered to resurrect one of our favorite traditions. There were 16 second-generation cousins under the age of nine, and everyone was excited by a visit from Saint Nick himself.

While in NY, I also enjoyed a reunion of my 8th grade class from Sacred Heart School, and Candy and I spent a frigid but fun day in the city, visiting the tree in Rockefeller Center, having a nice dinner, and seeing The Lion King on Broadway (highly recommended to everyone!).

What will 2010 bring? We can’t wait to find out!

2009 - December

2009 - December 7 | Christmas Photos

2009 - December 12 | Taylor’s Birthday Party

2009 - December 15 | Festival of Lights at Bull Run Park

2009 - December 18 | Symantec Family Christmas Party

2009 - December 19-20 | Snowpocalypse

2009 - December 24-25 | Christmas at Home

2009 - December 26-30 | Christmas in NY

2009 - December 26 | Murphy Family Christmas at Aunt Ann’s

2009 - December 27 | Sacred Heart Class of ‘87 Mini-Reunion

2009 - December 29 | Christmas in NYC

December - The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmastime is truly more magical with children. We had a wonderful December, and started out with a trip to the mall for a visit with Santa and some family photos. The kids truly enjoyed Santa, but we were disappointed with Picture People. The kids’ individual photos turned out ok, but we never were able to get a good photo of the two of them together.           Riley had a big month, as he rolled over for the first time and had two teeth come in. We spent Christmas week up in NY with Mom and Dad, though they left us Christmas Eve to go down to Mike and Nikki’s so they could see Taylor, Brooke, and Thomas on Christmas morning at their house. We spent Christmas Eve in NY with Kaitlin and Dan, and then Mom and Dad and the other Murphys came back Christmas Day. The MacDonoughs joined us the following day and we had all seven cousins together for the first time ever. We came back home on the 26th and Candy’s parents flew in on the 27th and stayed until the 30th. We enjoyed our visit and helped Candy’s mom celebrate her birthday. By New Year’s Eve we were ready for a quiet evening at home. As we looked back on 2008, Candy and I were struck by just how dramatically our lives have changed.  We are so wonderfully blessed to have Riley and Veronica in our lives.  In a year in which so many people have lost so much, we are greatly humbled by the fact we have two healthy, beautiful children.  God is truly great and we are looking forward with great hope and excitement to 2009.

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Kaitlin’s photos

Jeannie’s photos

Nikki’s photos