Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Merry Christmas

I write this post from Denver, Colorado where we're visiting family. It only took 18 hours in the Spann Van (spread over 2 days) but we made it! We were hoping for lots of fresh, white snow but the Colorado sun has come out, melting most of the white stuff.

We're so thankful to spend this time with family. We've had a blessed, busy month... Lots of holiday parties & events, time spent with friends. The 2008 holiday season marks the passing of our year anniversary as Louisianans. It seems as though it has flown by, but when we stop to consider all we've experienced & encountered in the last 12 months it makes it difficult to believe it's only been a year!

We're so thankful for our southern family... such good times have been had and surely there are only more to come.

May you & yours have a wonderful holiday season: A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's Gonna Be...

As our family discussed the weather this morning, we marveled at the possibility of snow. We live in Louisiana, for goodness sake! We also talked about the possibility of rain.

"It's gonna be hell", says our sweet little Nolan.

"What?" I ask, as I can only assume that I heard him incorrectly.

"It's going to be hell", he says again.

Kelly listens as I ask him to repeat himself again. He says the same thing. One more time. Same thing.

Finally, Nolan explains: "You know, when ice homes down from the sky, He-ll!?"

Oh! "Hail" ...with a southern accent!

Terrific Kid

What's Up? I'll Tell Ya...

Imagine 2 parades (one of which lasts an hour and a half), a huge festival that brings in tens of thousands of people and an enormous fireworks show, and you'll know what our weekend was like. No, we weren't having an early Independence Day celebration. It was Natchitoches' 82nd Annual Christmas Festival.

We spent the day with friends, did a lot of walking and plenty of eating. We were home by 8pm, but were exhausted! I'd have lots of photos to share, but unfortunately, I lost my camera over the weekend. I don't mourn the loss of that camera, as I'd had it for years and the flash drove me crazy, but i miss the few pics I had on there...

Other than the Christmas Fest, we've had lots of activity in the Spann home. Thanksgiving was great. We all enjoyed our week off. We were lazy, I baked and cooked like a mad woman, and we watched lots of movies. Kelly's mom was with us for the week and the rest of his family joined us Thursday - Saturday. We toured historic Natchitoches, took in the lights and ate some more.

Claire & I decorated for Christmas last weekend. We don't have a tree this year, as we've always had a live one, and we'll be in Colorado for the holidays this year. Still we hung wreaths, garland with lights and stockings. We filled glass vases with shiny silver ornaments and put out candles and an Ecuadorian creche. As we decorated, the boys were out and we stopped our work to enjoy hot cocoa and share a piece of delish vanilla pound cake. "It feels like we're in a restaurant, Mom. The music and the decorations... I love it!".

We're prepping for the party scene this week. A family party tonight, another one on Thursday, a kids party on Friday and a grown-up party on Saturday. Sunday starts a new round, but I won't get into that... I can only do 1 week at a time!

In the past month, Claire & Nolan have both had pinkeye (eh), experienced the "Body Walk" at school (a walk through a simulated, uh, body), Claire was named Terrific Kid (student of the month) and Kelly and some of the baseball players visited the kid's school as a reward for attendance.

Claire is fascinated with all things french these days, specifically the language. We've decided to learn french together as I have always studied espanol. Nolan is even getting into the act, greeting me with a hearty 'bon jour'! Claire is already talking about the trip to Paris she plans to take one day...

And that's the Spanns for now. Many details are lost in translation, but you get the gist. I plan to blog again soon, but just in case, Merry Christmas! May you & yours enjoy the true spirit of the season!

Claire Can Cook

While shopping downtown, Claire & I stopped at a shop featuring cookbooks. Claire's interest in all things culinary is at it's peak. She strongly feels that she needs a cookbook of her own, and thought that this shop would be a good place to find one. While browsing, she says to me, "Mom, I've found it! I need this! It's called... 'Any Bitch Can Cook'!"

A fellow shopper caught my eye and tried not to laugh, to no avail. I told Claire that probably wasn't the cookbook she needed. When I explained what the title meant, her face reddened and said, "I didn't know!". Well, she does now, no thanks to Kaffe Frederick!

At least we can be confident in her reading skills!