Family Mellmann

Things have changed a little since I was a teenager, but one thing hasn't changed - at least in this family.  The right of passage called 'getting your driver's license'.  When I was a teen, once you turned fifteen, the countdown was on until you could get your license.  Driver's education was incorporated into the school day, and most kids took it during their 10th-grade year, at the end of which was usually a sixteenth birthday, and the much-anticipated trip to the DMV. Now, there are additional rules and restrictions.  And driver's training, while available at many public schools, is not guaranteed for all 10th graders.  Most schools run a lottery system and you get to take the class when your number comes up.  In larger schools, this could happen right away, or it could happen in your senior (12th grade) year! Trinity doesn't offer driver's ed as part of their curriculum, but they partner with a local private driving school who will come into the

Despite a little illness trying to make its way through the family, we managed to keep it together for a Christmas Eve celebration. Although Patrick did not get to sing with the choir at church (a sore throat took him out), he did manage to provide some bass sounds for our family singing with the help of his string bass.  If you notice an unfamiliar creature in our pictures, that's our Christmas guest, Cloudy.  He will stay with us until New Year's Day. The kids enjoyed opening their presents, and they got everything that they wanted. ;) After presents, we moved on to our fondue dinner where we ate so much food that no one had room for my raspberry cheesecake dessert!! Our lovely Christmas Eve was followed by a completely relaxed, do-nothing (except cook supper), sleep-and-video-game-the-day-away, Christmas Day.  Maybe tomorrow we'll accomplish something. :)