So much to be grateful for

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We shared Christmas Eve with Angie's family with good food and interesting conversation. Angie's nephew, Owen, is the life of the party and his excitement for Santa made the night extra special for us. The next day Jen and Greg kindly lent their 4WD truck to Steve and Angie so they could trek through the snow and make it to our place for Christmas dinner. I think Angie and I thought the best part of the night was beating the boys at Mille Bornes. (Thanks, Steve and Angie for bearing with us as we "relearned" how to play).

We have so many things to be grateful for this year. Pete, Anne, Lizzie and Hannah have been so wonderful in their care for my Mom. I haven't been able to get to know my Mom's caregivers very well, but I get regular updates and I appreciate their care and concern more than they will ever know. On our last trip to IA my Mom's nurse's aide came up to me and said, "I just love your Mom". Her words were a priceless gift to me. I often have said that people who work in long term care are the unsung heroes of our health care system. A big thanks to Pete and Anne for being such great parents to two of the best granddaughters one could ever hope for.

And, finally, we are grateful for the rest of our family and friends that live far and wide. Our Christmas cards this year just reiterated to us how many special people we've met in our travels to Arkansas, California, South Dakota, Iowa, Virginia, Missouri, and now Washington. If there has been one constant in all for our moves, it's been that there are nice people everywhere.