all that's past is prologue...

I spent some time on the internets today, trying to discover the history behind the fact that most Scandinavians — and thus many Minnesotans — celebrate Christmas Eve over Christmas Day (a situation that greatly vexes our friend Xanthia). I didn't discover the history behind it, but I did find out that many of the Christmas customs I have grown up with are indeed Norwegian. Leave a bowl of cream out for the cats on Christmas Eve, because it's the one night of the year they can speak — check. At least seven kinds of Christmas cookies baked — check. Yule log — check. Family member sneaking out and showing up as "Santa" with gifts — check (though we haven't done that since I was young and we celebrated at my grandparents'). I also learned that December 23 is called "Little Christmas Eve," and is the night you truly prepare for Christmas. Tonight I listened to an old mix cd that Patrick made me when we first started dating, while doing laundry, ma...

If I missed you in real life sending our Christmas card (because I don't have your address, or ran out of stamps, or haven't quite gotten all of them in the mailbox yet), here it is in all its digital glory: Happy Holidays 2008, from our newly expanded family! Of course our big news in 2008 was the birth of Beatrix Camille Gladhill Rhone on February 9 — hard to believe she’s almost a year old! Our little “tiny tyrant” brings us joy, laughter, and a lot of attitude every day — and we love it. Another big change was Patrick leaving Carleton and returning to full-time consulting. He’s available for a wide range of projects, ranging from technology installation and support, to web design and branding, to productivity enhancement; find out more at www. machinemethods.com. And let’s not even start on the election…but we are awfully full of hope… With much love and hoping to see you soon, Bethany, Patrick, Beatrix, Maxim, and Miles

Today I was at the Nautilus studio all day with the annual audit. After taking Beatrix to her new daycare, Patrick came in to reconfigure the network, which was having some serious issues due to being rained upon in a recent leak. Deciding he didn't have everything he needed, he went off to buy some new parts, and also brought me back lunch. See how amazing this man is? He got my system up and running, and brought me a yummy cheese panini. I am in love!