Ever since I was pregnant with Rowan, Kenny has been talking about taking him sledding in our back yard. He threatened to take him last year, when he was only 5 months old. Of course, I was totally against this idea, and I'm still a litte nervous about Rowan going sledding at 17 months old. But Kenny assures me he and his brothers were already skiing down the sides of mountains at the age of 18 months, so I shouldn't be too worried about a small hill in our back yard on a plastic sled.

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I have heard many a story about Kenny and his brothers growing up (homemade bicycles, BB gun battles, and various games that use gunpowder), so I can almost imagine the Smith brothers skiing at 18 months old.

So this past Saturday, Kenny and Rowan went Christmas shopping. When Kenny left that morning, I thought he would come home with the tool bench that we agreed would be a great gift for Rowan. When he returned, the tool bench was accompanied by Rowan's first sled. I couldn't protest because it's The World's Safest Sled - complete with a nylon "seat belt." Unfortunately, it's not fast enough for Kenny. He took Rowan out in the snow this weekend and they were grossly disappointed in the sled's performance. He had to borrow the neighbor kid's sled to take Rowan down the hill to make it worth the 20 minutes it took to bundle him up in the snowsuit.

We are driving to Bedford, Mass. soon for a Smith brother gathering. There is bound to be snow there and I'm sure Kenny will take Rowan shopping again for The World's Not Very Safe But Very Fast sled to take with us. He must upgrade this year so Rowan's a pro at sledding before next year's first snowfall when he will have to share the sled with Sawyer.

Pictures of the week....

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Last Saturday was the first snow fall in Pittsburgh. Coincidentally, it was also the day we had picked to go get our Christmas tree.

Kenny and I have been together for 4 Christmases. Each Christmas, we find a different Christmas tree lot within a 4 mile radius of the house to find the tree. Each year we pay no less than $60. We thought that was pretty ridiculous, and it seems that we've been ripped off each year due to everyone else's reaction. People can't believe we shell out that amount of cash for a tree that gets thrown out in a few weeks. This year we decided to put an end to being ripped off at the Christmas tree lot.

So we bundled the kids up around 11:00 a.m. and headed north on Route 8. We were bound and determined to cut our own tree down. The sky was dark, and it was raining. But it was cold enough to be snowing. We were hoping for a picture-perfect snowy day for our new tree-cutting tradition.

Forty five minutes into the ride, we started to get to farm country and passed a sign for a tree-cutting farm. It's exactly what we were looking for. A few windy roads later we came upon a small Christmas tree farm that had almost every kind of tree available for cutting down. As we were getting out of the van, it started to snow. Perfect. It was colder and a lot more breezy up there in the north. Rowan laughed at the snow flakes falling all around him. It was the first time he realized there was something different in the outside air. He laughed and giggled all the way to the perfect tree. And we really did find a perfect tree. It has a big bald spot near the top, but if you turn it toward the corner, you can't even tell. Kenny pulled out the hand saw and cut it down easily and we dragged it back to the car.

$22. It's a third of the price of what we paid in previous years. Perfect.

It's decorated a bit differenlty this year. We didn't put the garland of beads on it because Rowan kept pulling at them as we were hanging them. So we left them off. But since then, he doesn't really disturb it all that much. The ornaments keep disappearing, so I hang them up higher when I find them stashed in a corner. I think by Christmas day, all the ornaments will be hanging on the top half of the tree. But we couldn't do Christmas without a tree for the sake of Rowan. We love watching him enjoy the tree. He points to it now and yells, "Chee!" and loves to turn the lights on and off (and on and off, and on and off, and on and off....).

Sawyer even benefits from the tree. His swing is right next to it and he stares at the little white lights as he swings to sleep.

It's the perfect tree.

We're so happy to welcome little Ramona into our family!

Andrew and Laura are the proud new parents of Ramona, born Monday, December 6th at 1:36 a.m. We can't wait to meet you, Ramona!

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Sawyer Cole was baptized this morning at our 10:30 service.

Sawyer's godparents, Nikki and Brian, met us at our home for breakfast where we dressed Sawyer in his baptism outfit. Sawyer woke up just in time to get dressed and leave for church. And he pretty much stayed awake for the rest of the day. Can you blame him? Kenny and I told him all day yesterday, "Tomorrow is your baptism day, Sawyer - it's a big day for you!" He didn't want to miss a beat. So he only fell asleep for 1/2 an hour in church in Nikki's arms, and a few minutes here and there at my parents' house after the service. It was his big day.

Baptisms have come a long way since New Testament days. The first baptisms recorded took place in a river. The "candidates" were baptized, and that's pretty much all that's recorded. Who knows if the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:38) ordered an almond cake with chocolate icing for his baptism party? Who knows if he even had a baptism party? These days, we not only have the sacrament of baptism, we have baptism outfits (aka "christening gowns"), and baptism cakes with icing crosses.

Perhaps this celebration following the service is a Westernization of the sacrament. But looking back on today, and looking back on Rowan's baptism a little over a year ago, I love that we had time to celebrate with friends and family. We can tell our children that we partied hard in joy and celebration on the days of their baptism. Because it was the day that they were received into the household of God, and marked as Christ's own forever.

Woo hoo!

_________________
(pictures: Nikki dressing Sawyer; Nikki and Brian and Sawyer; Godparents, Rector, and Smith family)

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