This year was a little more challenging in that Kayleigh came down with Roseola - high fever for 3 days (starting Christmas Eve) and after the fever went away for 24 hours, she broke out in a rash all over her body. 3 days later, she was fine and completely back to normal, but we're having some serious frequent night-time wakings.

Last year, Abby had an upper respiratory infection that led to a trip to Urgent Care on Christmas evening. Not wanting to repeat the Christmas excitement, we took Kayleigh to the doctor's on Christmas Eve as soon as she started showing a mild fever. The doc at first thought she had a sinus infection, but it wasn't until a few days later and a return trip to see the pediatrician when Kayleigh's rash broke out that we learned it was Roseola.

Santa was generous this year. Paul and I both allowed ourselves to purchase a couple of large gifts prior to Christmas - an iMac, a used Xbox 360, and a used Bugaboo Bee stroller - and Abby made out like a bandit, as usual. Both girls got some wonderful toys and much-needed clothes.

We had 2 Christmas dinners! Mom and Dad Newell came over for a Christmas lunch/dinner around 2:00 PM and we had our second Christmas dinner party at 6:00 PM. The evening party was a gathering of my childhood friends and family for our annual reunion. This year, we actually got to play Mafia! The mafia won a few rounds and the townspeople won a few rounds. This game really shines light on the duplicitous (new vocab word - thanks, Yu-Ching) nature of one's friends.

It was sad that my brother, Allen, was missing from the party, but don't feel too badly for him - he's on an eight-week, whirlwind tour of Taiwan and having a blast.

Christmas day was busy, yet so much fun. Abby was ill for last year's party, but was really able to enjoy herself this time. For me, watching her have such a great time with all the family and my good, old friends meant a lot. Abby absolutely loved spending time with Linda and Lily! She zonked out at 8:00 PM, completely worn out from the day's excitement. Kayleigh woke up with a fever shortly after, spent some time with the guests, and joined us in some photos, before the Ibuprofen kicked in and she was able to go back to sleep.

Next Christmas, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that every member of the family will be healthy.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Here is our Christmas Photo Album.