Merry Winter!

Welcome to an update not only about Christmas but about our fun-filled winter break, as well!  Today everyone should have gone back to school and work, but the break decided it wasn't quite done treating us to excitement -- school and work were cancelled due to a winter storm.

The kids were really into Santa this year.  Desmond started composing a wish list to send to the North Pole way back in November, and Molly had plenty of wishes of her own.  We took the kids to Bridgeport Village to see Santa.

I loved these nutcracker guys because they were young-ish guys doing what could be considered a lame holiday job, but they'd gotten so into it that they were speaking to the kids in British accents.  No idea why nutcrackers would be British, but way to embrace it, lads!

Because the kids are, well, your average kids, they were also very into decorating gingerbread houses this year.  We have a tradition that I make the gingerbread by hand and we piece it together and decorate it.  This was the first year that Desmond did his completely independently, and he did a remarkable job!  Here are some pics of our masterpieces.

I should back up and say a word about our tree.  We had a new experience this year -- we went to a u-pick farm and chopped down our own!  The kids really enjoyed that.  Thanks to his kindergarten teacher, Desmond's very into sawing stuff, so Joe let him really get in there and help.  The kids had even more fun because Grandma Mary came and got the tree and decorated it with us.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at home, and we had a special guest -- Aunt Helen!  The kids adore Aunt Helen, so they were really excited that she came over for possibly the most exciting 24 hours of their kid lives.

They were so cute in the morning when they went down to see if Santa came (which he did).   Santa brought Desmond a guitar, just like he asked for.  Molly wasn't as lucky.  She had asked Santa a few times for pink Hello Kitty ice skates, and darn it, Santa's just a little more practical than that.  Santa got her an awesome marker set and told her parents to take her ice skating before committing to the skates.  Kids' feet grow quickly, as Santa well knows, and sometimes it takes them a couple years to really get into skating.  She took the news in stride.

Desmond and Molly are going to start their own band now that they have a guitar and a saxophone.  I guess we'll have to teach them their song!

After presents were opened we hopped in the car and headed up to Bainbridge to spend the rest of Christmas day with the Vasiceks.  We stayed up there a few days, in fact, and we did all kinds of fun things like playing on the beach, taking the ferry to Seattle, staying with Teresa for the night, and visiting Aunt Patrice and Uncle Terry in Tenino on the way home.

Here are a few pics of the beach.

Teresa and Luis' son, Damien

A few days after we got home we took the kids up to Mt. Hood for some sledding.  There was a lot of snow up there, and it was absolutely the perfect day to be on the mountain, as you can see from the blue sky behind us in every picture!

The kids had so much fun sledding, and they did great in the snow!  We didn't know what to expect, since they really hadn't experienced snow in about two years.  Two years ago Molly did not like it one bit.  She was only about 15 months old and was still mastering walking on solid ground, so she spent most of her time being pissed off that she couldn't maintain her balance.  But this year she was a new woman!  She and Desmond both would have stayed on that mountain until dark if we'd let them!

Weird but true: On our way up to the mountain, we passed Santa's house!  We drove right by it.

Evidently they must tow it all the way from Bridgeport Village back to the North Pole via Highway 26.  Who knew?

We did so many things to get ready for Christmas this year.  It was exhausting but totally worth it.  I put together a killer Advent calendar that included things like:

Make homemade hot chocolate

Go to Zoo Lights

We did so much more that wasn't documented.  If anyone wants the full list so they can copy it, just email me.  It's a good one!  It even includes some nice giving activities and Secret Santa stuff.

I will end with this anecdote.  At one of my previous jobs I had a boss with young kids.  Every year after Christmas we'd ask him how his holiday was, and he'd say something we all considered so cheesy that we'd roll our eyes as he said it over and over to different people throughout the day.  But now I find myself quoting him.  How was my Christmas this year?  Well, as they say, it was so much more magical seeing it through my kids' eyes.  :o)