This past few weeks has been a roller coaster of ups and downs for us.  We received some wonderful presents from friends and family and it looked as if the holidays would be amazing.  We had a strange turn of weather here and got quite a bit of snow and ice.  After the first hit of snow our car was hit multiple times by other cars and did some definite damage.  Thankfully the others insurance was quick to respond and most was taken care of within a week.  We continued to get hit with snow and ice which made life interesting as we were limited to public transit (which was delayed a lot but thankfully reliable during the storms).  Sunday evening our power went out and we were left without heat or hot water in our apartment.  We were able to go to my wife’s parents home for the holiday to spend time with family and keep warm.  They were wonderful to us and it made Christmas truly great for everyone.  The kids had a blast playing with cousins and grandparents over the holiday.  Christmas morning was great.  The kids has a magical Christmas morning and got lots of incredible gifts from family and Santa.  Kellen was thrilled to find Santa had brought the fire truck and tools he had requested.  Emma took everything in with a somewhat glazed look and is now playing with her new toys with her brother.  Our power came back on Christmas eve (three days later) and we are now home again and getting resettled into our daily routine.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  Thank you to all who gave their prayers and well wishes to us over the past few weeks.  Things looked rather bleak at times but it turned out to be a wonderful holiday.  You can see more of our Christmas photos on Flickr.