Christmas Eve

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is sending out and receiving Christmas cards. Our basket is filling up with cards from friends and family. After getting married the Christmas list has a more international theme and I've enjoyed sending and receiving cards from relatives in Holland and friends from abroad, some that I've had a chance to meet this past year. I love posting the pictures on the fridge and the fridge is filling up as the December days pass!
Last Friday night we attended Glory of Christmas at the Crystal Cathedral with Jolene's parents. It is quite a presentation of the Christmas story complete with live camels, sheep, goats and "flying" angels who arrive and are whisked away via tracks and cables suspended from the roof.

Out front was a giant christmas tree COVERED with lights.
Christmas Eve we relaxed made dinner at home and enjoyed holiday cheer together via a walk through the neighborhood christmas lights and reading Christmas stories.

Christmas Greetings

Click here for Santa's Greetings from the Kettings..

An overview of our year....

As you may or may not know, we spent the past year (and change) as jobless, homeless, rootless travel bums. We provide here a few snap shots outlining some of our "sabbatical travels" (beginning with most recent). The many other blog entries detail our trips, trials, thoughts, and impressions in photos and text. If you are interested in more detail, click on any of purple colored text to jump to that section.

We've been home (more or less) since September 18. You'll have to wait until next year for news of the time since then. It's a lot more boring than our trip stories, anyway. And, by the way, if you're looking for photos and news of extended family or friends, good luck. We discovered that, in the enjoyment of people we love, we forget about taking pictures, etc. So, if we visited YOU and you're disappointed to not find your picture here... well, um... send us one & we'll post it.

And now, without further ado, the Reader's Digest version:

Click here for September 1-18, 2007
A cruise back across the Atlantic via Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland Greenland and New York and HOME!

Click here for August 1-31, 2007
The Swiss Alps and cycling 475 miles through Holland with Uncle Gary and Aunt Gail


Click here for July 1-31, 2007
Home exchange in Switzerland, Germany and France (Yes, that is a summer snow storm in Switzerland!)

Click here for June 1-30, 2007
Holland, Germany and a Baltic Cruise

Click here for May 1-31, 2007
Italy, Greek Island Cruise and home exchange in Holland

Click here for April 5-30, 2007
Florida Keys, Orlando, a Trans Atlantic Cruise including Azore Islands, Ireland, England, destined for Italy.


Click here for January, 2007
Chile and backpacking Torres del Paine (TDP)

Click here for November- December 2006
South American travels through Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Falkland Islands
Sailing Channel Islands and Camping Yosemite

Celebrating Case's Birthday!

Today we celebrated Case's 45th birthday and took a few photos to capture the moment. (Click on photos for full-size.)
Here is a good glimpse of Case's inferno desert...as requested Peppermint Patty Brownies! The directions were: no need for baking, pour batter in pan and light candles.
We are enjoying holiday spirit around the house,
and remembering our travels via the Delftware Christmas ornaments we collected in the Netherlands.