How far are we into 2012 and I'm still posting about Christmas? Apparently the new year hasn't made me any faster.
The top picture is the Christmas finale shot, after we took Grandma and Grandpa back to the airport. Owen was so sad.
Some of the other pictures are just typical of what was going on during the holiday. Liam building legos, Natalie reading, Owen boxing with his new boxing gloves (brilliant idea, don't you think? Except I need a punching bag now...), Jim passed out in a chair (ha ha, OK, maybe that doesn't happen all the time), Liam playing Nintendo.
And a picture of our treats for Santa. Santa doesn't get homemade goodies at our house. A couple of peanut butter cups and he's good to go; plus a carrot for the reindeer. I have it on good authority that he prefers peanut butter cups to my homemade cookies anyway. Owen thought that Santa should share those treats, because sharing is nice, after all. So Santa cut one peanut butter cup in half and left half for Owen. He (Owen, not Santa) is still talking about how nice it was for Santa to share that treat. Bravo, Santa!
There were surely many holiday moments that I should have captured and did not, in pictures or in words. I am clinging to the small things before they fly by with the passing years. The way Natalie calls them snowflags instead of snowflakes, for instance. Not that we had any snow, but she likes to make paper ones. Just this week she was reading a story and came across the word snowflake, and she narrowed her eyes and said, "Hey! It's not snowFLAKE..." and I tried to break it to her that she actually says it wrong. She gave kind of a "Hmmph" and I've noticed that she continues to call them snowflags. I am completely fine with that! It's much cuter that way, anyway. Long live childhood!
This is what we love about museums...trying on new identities. 
How far are we into 2012 and I'm still posting about Christmas? Apparently the new year hasn't made me any faster. 
Liam: Is this my wine? I'm thirsty.
Christmas cheers! (And those are ribs; not turkey. Who knew that Costco runs out of turkeys by the time it is Christmas Eve day? So much for my Just-In-Time method of procurement.)
Spreading reindeer food and glitter. The deer will be drawn to the house by the glitter, see the food, and then we all know Santa won't pass us by because the animals always get their way (see Tigger, above).
Sprinkle, sprinkle.
Maybe I should grind this food into the ground a little. Or at least run my fingers through the dirt and grass - sometimes in the winter my fingernails don't have enough dirt jammed under them.
Did I mention that Owen got hand/foot/mouth disease right before Grandma and Grandpa came in town? Poor little guy. His face was unsightly, but the huge blisters on his hands and feet just looked very uncomfortable. Luckily, no one else caught it.
