remember december.

maybe one of my favorite times of year is right this minute. this week suspended in time between christmas and new years seems to not exist somehow. it is the closest thing to an old fashioned school break as i get. just as christmas is winding down and you feel like maybe you should do something productive... you realize what's the point? it's almost new years. best week ever.

so while i was 'quiet' life was full... and christmasey... and well documented... :)

waiting for santa.
last year we waited for two hours in the bitter cold. this year we scored by me totally forgetting about it and then on our way to get our tree, we drove by 10 minutes before he opened and 2 people were in line. which caused me to screech 'park!!' loudly to nate and hurl myself and small children out the door and into the cold but only for 12 minutes of waiting. merry christmas to me.

nobody cried. first year ever.

we usually drive out and cut down our tree but apparently our tree farm is in a 'transition' period. only 3ft trees and 12ft trees so we went to the local town lot, strapped one to the roof and i buried my eldest daughter under free evergreen boughs.

grayson cut his face and got to wear a sweet band aid for three days. santa said "i really like your face sticker. who is that on there?" grayson just stared at him. grayson is uncomfortable in certain awkward social situations.

after we set up our tree we went back for the hayrack rides through downtown... it's beginning to look a lot like christmas. jingle bells. we sang them all.

and then home to decorate the tree.

ganz loves when i find his outfits.

and the girls enjoyed some fireside chats.

our first real snow day was at grammie and grandpas.
the tradition holds that on the first day that there is enough snow to leave a footprint on the sidewalk when stomped upon, it is considered our first 'official snow day'.
this is celebrated by snow stomping and the watching of white christmas with popcorn.
it's all very official. we had two close calls so far that year... but nothing could hold up to our lofty rules and regulations.
but this was the real deal...

grammie took us to 'the christmas carol' for the kids christmas present. last years nutcracker would be hard to beat but we voted for variety and braved the first snowstorm to see 'uncascoooj', as grayson calls him, at his finest.

he didn't disappoint.

baking cookies with grammie...

grandpa attempted to introduce the word yes into luci's vocabulary by indoctrinating her into the 'yes march'. basically where they march around the house chanting yes. it was semi successful.

a cousin christmas.

grandpa, what is so funny? and why do you have 52 presents while the rest of us only have one?

in the gift exchange a certain joke was reveled in by grandpa's gifter... and he received a variety and quantity of water that was unmatched.

grayson was introduced to the dinosaur shirt. by crossing your arms and moving them up and down you too can scare your friends and siblings... all you need is the dinosaur shirt. :)

and then guess who blew in on the wind....?

our auntie. :)

here she is showing her amazement that the shirt she brought for grayson from bali has been identified and labeled immediately as a magnum shirt. not many kids recognize 1980's detectives wardrobes... but i like to focus on the important stuff in life. that's my job. :)

she played a lot of beauty shop...

and somehow managed to have the children play spa day.
lotion... foot massages...

grayson doing things to her hair... luci holding her sweater... it's a rough life.

we were treated to many costumed shows and full scale play productions during her two week visit. after one such event there was a desire on behalf of the theater management to have a feedback session. we were to come ready to share our favorite parts, our observations and our suggestions for future theatrical material.
i don't remember being told we had to dress up... i think auntie just liked wearing green sequins.

i had a lot of good thoughts. one being someone needs to make more coffee.

pizza night. auntie made her caramelized onion pizza ...

and i made snowman pizza.

church christmas program. second year as an angel for miss arianna... she is really becoming an expert.
her friend the shepherd was getting a little rowdy and she shushed that up quick. very angelically.

every year i forget that the little kids sing too. so every year my little kid is not in their christmas outfit  but in some random outfit that they picked themselves. last year i still had a shred of OCD left and ran home to get his christmas outfit between services. this thought sounded laughable this year. 
my children have killed my perfectionism. 
mostly. 
sometimes. 
for sure before 11 am.

remember when i said that grayson was uncomfortable in certain social situations? this would be on one of those. he has what we like to call his awkward smile. it's a blend between a smile and a laugh and an embarrassed yawn. and he can hold his face like that for a long time. it's hilarious but if you laugh he gets more embarrassed so you can't. man i love that kid. he's complicated and fantastic.

so remember december part two on it's way... probably before december is even over. 

which would be a mini christmas miracle all it's own;)