"All the freckles on your face"

It's been awhile...a long while. In fact, I reckon this has been the longest time I've gone without posting on U.S. soil -- if not ever. I have my reasons, most of which are wrapped in a 9-day trip to Indiana, and the others are a lack of motivation.

But to kickoff 2008, let's do a rundown of all things that were enjoyable as 2007 closed and 2008 began.

• Christmas vacation (not the movie) -- it was a great time spent with family and friends for many of the reasons that follow
• Time spent with family and friends -- they helped make Christmas vacation great for many of the reasons that follow
• Great times -- Christmas vacation was a great time thanks to time spent with family and friends
• Grandparents -- This may have been my Grandpa Martin's last Christmas as his cancer has spread and he's been told he has about 6 months left. Thankfully, we convinced him to come spend some time in Indiana for a few days.

From here, why don't I do a Day-by-Day Log of our Vacation sprinkling in a few highlights:

1. We arrived in Indiana, dropped our dog off at Lisa's Mom's house, then went to my parent's house to unpack and great the family. My maternal grandparents arrived as well. My Grandpa was crying as he walked up to the door, so that was touching and sad. It was interesting to see my family talk about his condition and death for the next few hours. The way it was handled was unexpected. After dinner at Hacienda with Cathy we journeyed out with a few amigos to I Am Legend where Shannon grew angry that she was tricked into a Zombie movie and the rest of us enjoyed a good movie -- except for Lisa who was on the bubble and kind of mad about the zombie part too. As it poured rain that night, we decided to venture to Steak 'n Shake for some late-night conversation. It was a good day.
2. After church we ate a fantastic meal at Texas Roadhouse with Angela and Cathy Rogers. We then exchanged Christmas presents with Mama Rogers before heading back to the Rosenberg's for the family Christmas dinner and gift exchange with Grandma and Grandpa Rosenberg. The tree was reloaded Santa's presents for little Noel and Preston and all the other Rosenberg gifts that would be exchanged the following day.
3. This was December 24, but we pretended it was Christmas morning at the Rosenberg household and traditions such as stockings' first, turn-based-opening, and no one gets dressed before noon went off in typical fashion. We later played Outburst and Taboo, the latter of which found Rogers and Becky bonding...Turns out Lisa has a knack for Taboo and Becky really likes to win so the two made for great teammates. That night we went to Madison Park's Christmas Eve service at 11 p.m. to ring in Christmas Day.
4. Christmas Day was spent in Marion with Tom, Angie and her boyfriend, Matt. We exchanged gifts, played Clue and cards, and went to see Charlie Wilson's War, which we all enjoyed. Tom cooked some great food for Christmas dinner. It was a long day in Marion and a good day in Marion.

I suppose that's enough for now. I'd imagine this is fairly boring to read anyhow, but I promised (above) a log of our vacation and a log ye shall get.