Technology

We had a great Christmas.  Erin and Wade were kind enough to host the Nokleby clan this year.  Everybody came to Dallas except Ryan.  He had an offer he couldn't refuse--a 3 week vacation on a private island in the Caribbean.  We all understood, but next year he had better show up, wherever we end up :) 

All counted there were 14 here, under one roof.  Thank goodness Erin and Wade have a wonderful house with 3 1/2 bathrooms!  (For those of you counting #14 was TJ sweet girlfriend Katie who come down from Oklahoma City for one night.)  Something else that was present here was a large number of modern communication/information devices.  There were 4 Macs, 5 i phones, 2 i pads, 2 laptops and 2 desktops, along with several "regular" cell phones.  I was unaware that using your phone just to make calls was so last year.

Watching my grandchildren using these was quite eye opening.  You would expect Drew to be able to run these machines, he just turned nine.  But watching Noah, 3 1/2 manipulate an i phone and an i pad is pretty amazing.  He knows how to play Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.  Pulling up videos on You-Tube is second nature to him.  He can do puzzles and listen to the alphabet accompanied by songs and teaching sounds as he goes.  Noah knows how to "pinch" to make the screen smaller and can expand it back just as fast. 

I'm not sure I even knew my colors when I was 3. 

I am grateful for all of these things.  They make keeping in touch so easy.  Do they even use the word "long distance" anymore?  I'm also grateful that we could slow down and enjoy being together.  Erin and I vowed not to spend the whole time cooking, heck I didn't even make homemade crescent rolls this year.  Some of us even worked a VERY difficult 1000 piece puzzle.

After all the craziness getting ready for the Holidays, I enjoyed just hanging out with my family.  I hope you got to do that too.

Julie