Survey says...

I am thrilled to report that my survey revealed that I have at least 7 readers! Ha! And only one of them reads my blog out of pity. Fab! See my smiling face?

It's not much, but it's enough to keep me posting...for now at least. Imagine how happy I'd be if, say, 20 people read my blog. Too exciting to even consider for now. Please note the mild sarcasm. :)

Rock chalk Jayhawk!

Brad recently got a little taste of home when we attended the Kansas v. Temple basketball game. They played on Temple's campus January 2 — because it was winter break, there were hardly any students and (we could swear) more KU fans than Temple! Notice Brad with his arms up in the back row...

Apparently there are very active northeast KU alumni associations, and Brad's friend Alex (whom he went to high school with in Winfield, KS — and who coincidentally is going to school out here) was able to get tickets through one of them. In our little section of the Liacouras Center, Brad was hanging with at least 3 other Winfield-ians. Or -ites? Either way, it seemed unusual considering we were in the middle of Philly! Brad and Alex at the game...

The best part? I got to see the Waving Wheat (albeit on a much smaller scale than at the home games) firsthand! (If you don't know what this is, click here and see the "Traditions" section.)

Note: While there is someone waving a baby in this video (wait until about 7 seconds into it), I don't believe that's part of the tradition...

Holiday recap

We had a lovely holiday this year — nothing new or unusual — just good old tradition! You may recall that my dad had an unexpected quadruple bypass in 2008, just a few days before Christmas. So normal Christmas = great!

Even though no one else saw it, Brad and I got our first Christmas tree together. It made the apartment smell great! We were sad to see it go.

And, of course, there were lots of cookies — a la Danielle. Except I forgot to put carrot noses on the snowmen until it was too late...hindsight is 20/20, right?

One holiday tradition that has stuck with my family for a long time is Christmas breakfast with the Hollanders. During our traditional breakfast, Charlie (my dad) cooks, mimosas are made and consumed (although the kids weren't always allowed to have those!), napkin rings are stuck in our eye sockets (long story), and a family photograph is taken.

Recent additions to Christmas breakfast include: Bubba (dog), Jasmine (dog), and Brad (human). Meet Jasmine (Susan's dog) and Brad...

See Jasmine and Bubba...could they be any different?

And of course, the annual Hollander/Mittermaier photo taken using the tripod...

When did everybody get so tall? Well, almost everybody! It's such a gift to have friends who feel like family! And another wonderful year comes and goes...