Hello and Merry Christmas! We have had a full week of the fun and excitement that we like about our nomadic life. Not all perfect, but good!

The week started in Ohio/West Virginia with cold and snow. We enjoyed some sledding with the kids, even though it was crazy cold. We had fun making all the Mueller family Christmas cookies: Nussstängeli (buttery, hazelnutty sticks–made those with Alex’s boys), Mailänderli (buttery, mildly lemony cookies cut with cookie cutters), Basler Läckerli (dense, nutty, citrusy, honey cookie from Basel), and our family’s favorite gingerbread cookies (spicy and super chewy). I finished up the last of the projects for Christmas gifts and it was fun to see the kids enjoy their toys. We also got to meet our newest family member, great-nephew Finn. After lots of snuggles and hugs and good food, it was time for us to leave and let everyone settle back into a normal schedule before the holiday shakes things up again.

We drove through a very rainy and foggy West Virginia afternoon to a stop for the night near Charlotte. We were sad to not be able to stop at New River Gorge National Park, but we will catch it next time. The weather cleared out the next morning (maybe it was nature’s birthday gift to Nathan) and we have had delightful weather since. We are spending a long weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. We’ve been talking about this trip for years, so it’s great that we are finally here. The city truly lives up to the hype and is especially charming with all the Christmas lights and wreaths and decorations all over the historic buildings. This is my 48th state visited in my lifetime–just North Dakota and Alaska left! It’s also crazy that in the last month we have gone from Morro Bay, CA on the Pacific coast, across the country to Utah, Missouri, Ohio, and West Virginia, and on to Charleston on the Atlantic–sea to shining sea!

We spent Nathan Day driving and we stopped at Congaree National Park for a walk through the swamp on the boardwalk. Then we went out for a very delicious birthday dinner at Edison on James Island. We followed that up with an improv comedy show (one of the best we’ve ever seen) at Theatre 99. The next day, we did an excellent walking tour of the Historic District of Charleston, had an afternoon snack at Harken Cafe, and stuffed ourselves at Hyman Seafood. Sacrament Meeting and a Christmas carol sing-a-long at the Huguenot Church were both good for getting in the right spirit. We also had some pretty decent BBQ at Home Team.

We took the ferry out to Fort Sumter to see the National Monument there. I sometimes hate that so much history focuses on war. However, it was really interesting to see the fort in the context of the landscape around it and to learn more about the other things that happened there before and after the start of the Civil War. A bonus was that we saw dolphins and a burrowing owl!

It’s been a great week and a wonderful Holiday season. We feel so blessed to be able to visit our kids and grandkids, despite the fact that they are scattered across the country. Some might think it’s sad that we don’t have a big gathering every year with everyone together, but this works great for us right now and we cherish our time together. We also feel so blessed that we have lots of other wonderful family and friends who love us and care where we are and that we are well. We love our people! This week we’re going to drive down the coast to Tybee Island near Savannah and we will spend a quiet, cozy Christmas there. I’ll sign off for a couple of weeks and when I check back in the New Year, we will be in Florida! Nathan and I wish you all a wonderful Christmas full of love and warmth and the very best for the New Year!