Christmas Part II

It is a bit sad, but our first Christmas is now officially over as I am back at work and Meg's at home with very sleepy baby. :(

The holiday went great for us. On Christmas Eve we saw my oldest newphew perform a song in his church's Christmas pagaent and then had a tasty meal at my sister's house. We were home early, around 9pm and were able to relax before the big day. On Christmas we opened our presents at our house. Meg got an IPod Nano, Henry got some toys and I got a really cool map of our town from 1898. The map is framed and I put it up in our hallway. We then went to my parents' for dinner and my aunt's for visiting. Henry started to max out just as we were arriving at my aunt's. It was a bit of a struggle, but overall he did very well. (Unfortunately, I can't say the same for last night ... he was horrible ... maybe it is his 5th tooth?)

I only searched a very small amount of coin last week. Thirty-four small dollars and five halves produced nothing. I haven't searched that little since Henry was born ... go figure, I guess! We were busy.

Right now we are hoping a plumber can come and rescue us. My father and I cut a hole into our hallway ceiling on Saturday to investigate a leak coming from our bathroom. We discovered that the drain pipes from our tub/showere were completely corroded. So now we have no shower. :( Henry doesn't mind.



During the weekend I finished reading Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal. It's the longest book I've read in some time, about 500 pages. I read it in two parts. I had read Jeal's biography of Livingstone and liked his style and scholarship so well that I decided to read this one even though I wasn't too interested in reading another book on Henry Morton Stanley (the first book I read about him portrayed him in such a brutish light I found his story difficult to enjoy). I'm glad I went forward and read this book. Jeal was able to get at much personal correspondence of Stanley's and with that he was able to create a more complete picture of the man. Jeal shows that Henry was much less of a brute than his reputation suggests. His own attempts to talk up his encounters actually worked against him and in comparison to other African explorers of his day he was far more progressive. Jeal's writing is a joy to read. I wish he had time to write more biographies. He has one other on Baden-Powell. I'll have to read that one.

Found: 1 penny (at Wal-Mart), 1 dime (at Home Depot)