THE STOCKINGS WERE HUNG BY THE CHIMNEY WITH CARE....

The Kirkpatrick family - Sean, Nancy, Brendan and Caitlin - are standing in this Christmas morning to represent the families of our six children. The top photo shows four stockings hung on the fireplace. Sean's stocking, on the left, was made back in 1956 by the grandmother of a dear friend, Homer Heath. She made one for Sean's sister Erin the next year. When my kids began having their babies, I decided to knit each of them a stocking. So in the above photo, there are three hand-knit and one store-bought stocking. I always had in the back of my mind to knit one for the spouses, but alas, there was always another grandchild to knit for and I just never got around to doing that.

Here is little Brendan in 1987 showing off his own personal stocking. He was not quite 6 months old in this picture and he appears to be a sober little tyke. But in reality we now know that he was thinking deep thoughts, probably trying to figure out how the camera worked. He was a charming little kid, very smart and very likeable. And he grew up with all those attributes, too. Now I know you aren't going to believe me, but do you know that all of my 13 grandchildren fit this description exactly? I am certainly not bragging, but they, like Brendan, have grown up well.

So now here is Brendan going into adulthood. He is attending college at CSULB and carrying a double major - I wish I could tell you exactly what they are but he didn't get his brains from me and I am not so good at remembering details anymore, so just hold lightly that he may be majoring in biomedical engineering and some other field of engineering. I know when his father reads this he will immediately e-mail me with the exact majors. (Yes, his father says Biomedical and electrical engineering!) Brendan also is an accomplished musician who has played the French Horn with his father in many, many orchestras in the Northern California area. Brendan's mom and sister both play the flute and handbells and they too are exceptionally talented.

Remember that I asked you to let this family represent all our families for this Christmas Blog? We have families of Pramls, Davises, Lambriches, Broughtons and Katzes besides the Kirkpatricks. We have them scattered about from Alaska to Florida. We have some we see a lot of and some we don't see often enough. But they all are charming, bright, likeable and loving. We send to each of them our love and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous new year.