Blizzards, Family, and Abby's First Christmas

Christmas for us was great. We were worried cause Brian was one of the unfortunate ones that got stuck in the Denver blizzard. He was on business and was supposed to be home the Wednesday before Christmas and didn't get home until Christmas Eve-Eve. Fortunately his sister Kristine lives up there and so he was able to stay with her and wait out the storm. We are so grateful to her and to everyone who prayed Brian home.

The good thing about situations like that is it makes you extra-extra grateful for spouses and family. Suddenly all the presents, parties and plans that we had made seemed so insignificant. All I wanted, all I needed was to have my family together for Christmas, and I learned that nothing else in the world matters except being with the ones you love.

We went to Brian's parents on Christmas eve and had a wonderful prime rib dinner (mmm!) and got to hang out with all the brothers (except Elder Kevin) and their wives, which was great fun. The fourth brother, Eric and his family, just moved down this week to join the family business and we're excited they're here! Now we just need for Marianne, Jill and Kristine to move back home!

On Christmas morning we went to my mom's house and had brunch, and opened stockings and presents. I think the whole family was here this time, except for maybe two people, so it was wonderful that we could all be together. I love the traditions that both of our families have and I'm so grateful that we get to be with both families during the holidays.

For some reason I've been super bad about taking pictures lately, especially at family parties. The only Christmas shots I got were of Abby on Christmas morning.

This is Abby discovering her Santa toy. Darn Santa gave her the good stuff so then she didn't want to open the other presents.

Dress #2

I love this dress on her with her little black stockings and shiny shoes. All she needs is a big black bow on her head.

Dress #1

This is one of Abby's Christmas dresses. For some reason we ended up with four. Hey, a girls first Christmas has to be special, right? What a priss!
In this shot, she was shimmying back and forth in her chair and flirting with the guys in the room. Look out, boys!

Thanks to Brian's dad for taking these great shots!

Free Money! (The Repealed Federal Excise Tax is Retro-active)

After a long-running legal dispute, the Treasury Department announced in May that it would no longer collect the outmoded tax, which was originally established as a luxury tax on those wealthy enough to own a telephone.

The IRS agreed to offer taxpayers refunds, which are estimated to total $15 billion.

The Dallas Morning News did an interesting article.

You can look up your phone bills and find the actual amount or request a standard credit depending on the number of exemptions you claim on your W4.

•$30 for one exemption.
•$40 for two.
•$50 for three.
•$60 for those claiming four or more exemptions.

This is a credit, not a deduction, so you don't have to itemize your taxes in order to take advantage of it. The IRS will soon be releasing a form on http://www.irs.gov/.

An additional website is also setup to help get the word out.

http://www.refundphonetax.com

Christmas Work Party

One thing that I always look forward to is Brian's work Christmas party. The party coordinators always come up with creative ideas to make the parties interesting and fun. This year's was no exception and we really did have fun. Any negative comments I may have made on my previous post only reflect my picky, uncomfortable, pregnant self and were not meant as a slam to the company or to those who work so hard to plan the parties.

See Mom? I can feed myself!

Books on the Window Seat

Abby has been really into books lately. There have been a couple of times where all she's wanted is to sit on her window seat and play with the books. The other day Brian was putting Christmas lights up outside and Abby stopped to say hello.

Desperate Measures

We knew that a Christmas tree would be way too tempting for Abby, so Brian built a podium for the tree. It's pretty tall, and looks kinda silly at first, but it keeps the Abbinator at bay.

Abby manged to get a hold of the lights, so we baby-proofed some more. "Just inspecting them, Dad!"