christmastime is here

Merry Christmas!

We spent a few days before Christmas at Mom and Dad’s house. The extra fun part was that Christopher and Emily just moved into their new house, right across the street! Play dates will be even easier now! (My favorite part is the 200 gallon fish tank.) I think Mom and Dad need to build a tunnel (or at least add a new front walkway to protect their grass!)

We crammed a lot of fun activities into our visit. I love seeing the Christmas lights at the art museum. Colin seems to be a big fan of the music from The Nutcracker; We’ve seen a few light displays set to the music and he always says, “This my favorite song!”

Of course we went to the symphony’s Christmas show. It's my favorite Christmas tradition! Will joined us for the first time this year, too. I really enjoyed listening to the violinist, Dan's favorite was the Cyr wheel performer, and Mae loved the dancing rag dolls and bears. We always take our picture in front of the big Christmas tree, although there's enough of us attending now that we pretty much block the whole tree!

Thursday we took a train to the North Pole to visit Santa. Colin was wide-eyed at the beginning but settled in and started to enjoy all the animatronic displays along the way. Mae remembered that she got candy on the ride last year, so that’s all she talked about. All the kids were excited to visit Santa! (A Christmas miracle: they all looked at the camera... and weren't screaming!)

I was a little bummed that the Christmas party with my friends was canceled due to weather. Fortunately, I bumped into Laura and family after coming back from the North Pole! (Also fortunately, we decided to drive back home early to avoid traveling in the storm and sub-zero temps, which was DEFINITELY the right choice!)

More pictures from our Christmas at home coming soon!