Christmas vacation

This is our kid-friendly Christmas tree. One year I will have a beautiful, intentionally decorated tree. But for now it is this and I love it.

(We had light issues. Some of the lights decided to be tempermental)

Grandma found this beautiful winter dress for Claire and had to buy it. Now we are finding blue sparkles everywhere. I co-ordinate my Sunday outfit with he so the blue sparkles are more of an accessory than a mess. The other day i saw a blue sparkle on Mike's face and another in Claire's hair, weeks after she had last worn the dress.

But she loves to wear it. She says, "I pretty" and twirls.
It's worth it.

On Christmas Eve day Claire comes up to me growling and pulls me over to the tree to reveal this. She had opened Ethan's present. Ethan had already guessed what it was by some classic detective work and this just proved him right.

We have been waiting all winter for some good "snowman snow." We thought this was it but it wasn't. They still had fun anyway. Apparently Claire loves the snow. Even after an hour of playing in it she cried when Mike brought her in.




My parents came down to our house for Christmas this year. It was so wonderful. We had such a relaxing time that we forgot to take pictures. This was minutes before they left and it is the only picture we have with them.
If it wasn't the only one I wouldn't have posted it because I look awful.

We had a great time playing. We took another trip to Jumpin Jacks fun house, went to the movies (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), played "Trouble," and ate at In-N-Out Burger! It was a weird visit because we didn't do all the things we normally do. Bake, eat a ton, bowling, craft projects and lots of outings. We think maybe it is because it was too cold. But we had such a great time making memories and hanging out. Thanks for coming to us so we could be together without us t haveing to travel at Christmas in the snow.