The Gift of Music

...and other fun things.

Haven and her friend Hannah at the Stuttgart Christmas Market.

Haven got her first guitar a few years ago from my dad. It was a fun little beginner's guitar that she loved. But since she has been taking lessons she has outgrown the beginner's guitar. But we weren't quite ready to invest in a really nice guitar yet. Then this little baby just dropped in my lap. Her instructor told me that a mutual friend was selling her Big Baby Taylor to make room for a new little baby who would be joining their family in a few months. So Haven got a new guitar.

What I didn't know was that Rob bought me a bass! I have long admired bass players and recently our friend started showing me some of the basic things on his bass. So now I have my own!

My mom sent Ethan some new drum sticks and Haven a set of guitar picks in all different weights. That was super cool because we had just been discussing guitar picks with the instructor and talking about when you use each of the different kinds.

Rob's big gift (which turns out to be fun for the entire family) is Apple TV. It is awesome!!!! We can load it up with stuff on its harddrive, pull from any of the family computers that have iTunes open, or download from the iTunes store. I'm especially looking forward to renting movies on it. It was also great for piping music through the sound system. It just pulls from the iTunes library.

We're really not Apple fanatics, but Rob did have an Apple Christmas. He also got an iPad cover with a built in blue tooth keyboard, and our friends gave him this iPad stand. The manufacturer intends it to be a display stand, but Steffen (being a preacher) thought it would make a perfect podium! So Rob can pop his iPad in it and have his music, or his Bible study notes. Fancy shmancy!

There were lots of other fun things from the family and friends. We're very thankful for everyone who thought of us and sent gifts! We love you all very much! We know it's not the gift that makes us blessed, but the people who love us.

And for those of you who have listened to me whine about the snow... here's proof that I'm not exaggerating.

It took us FOREVER to dig the car out of the snow this morning to go to Church! I got out a huge broom to push the snow off of the car. And on the left, that is the street we live on. Well, under that snow is our street. The snow plow operators had a couple of days off, which was nice for them, but very challenging for us on the days we had to go out. :)

Happy 2nd Day of Christmas!