best part of christmas day?

"snow football and a snowball fight with daddy!"

finally

christmas morning....4:47 am. sam wanted to go down then. hmmm.

"not til 7 am", we told him. he crawled in to bed with us.

"it doesn't sound like the weather is bad, so i think santa had a good trip". said sam.

"go back to sleep, sam".....said emerging "mean mommy". (oh yeah, it is christmas, i remind myself)

then jack and charlie woke up. 6:09 am.

"not until 7 am" we told them. they crawled into bed with us.

mommy went to make coffee at 6:49 am. desperately needed coffee. daddy was the gate keeper.

finally.... 7:00 am.

to you and your family...

merry everything

happy always

our christmas card.

designed by dan socie

printed by paper in the park.

bamboo forest wipeout

o christmas tree

homemade gifts for the neighbors

christmas ornaments.

supplies:

recycled christmas cards from the year before

last name letter cookie cutters

glue

pretty ribbon

snow report: 29 inch base

college ornament exchange

these woman, i love.

it is safe to laugh.

and it is safe to cry.

but mostly, to laugh.

heirlooms

these were given to me from my mother in law. they were her father's.

i love these delicate glass vintage ornaments.

each year they are displayed together in a glass vase.

much safer here than on the tree to crash to a hard wood floor or get eaten by the lovely dog we have living here.

i love my dog (keep telling myself that.)

new season. new sport.

lights

photo by mike.

the elf: sean (taylor)

this little fellow visits each december.

the boys named him after one of their favorite redskins, sean taylor.

do you have an elf who visits you and reports back to santa?

i wish the elf could stay year round.

trick shots

a note to daddy

each night, mike will check on the boys before he goes to bed. or if he hears them roll over in the middle of the night. he has been doing this since they were babies. (good thing, because i am not the one to wake up in the middle of the night!) anyway, we tease him about it as he creaks the floors and kisses their sleeping heads each time he goes in.

on this day, the boys had decided to decorate their rooms for christmas, but we were not allowed to see until it was finished.

"keep out" signs were placed on their doors as they went to work.

then it was bedtime.

because their rooms weren't finished their adornments, they kept their doors closed, which drives mike crazy because it disrupts his routine.

as mike went to bed, he found this note on sam's closed door.