Christmas.

I've been putting off organizing pictures over Christmas, mostly since I am so disappointed in myself for not documenting it better! Ever since I got a smartphone, I take awful-quality pictures instead of any nice ones. And I think the great quantity and low quality of pictures is sort of depressing enough that I stopped taking many at all. I must fix this! The kids aren't going to be this cute forever! Anyway, here's hoping that this is our family's worst documented Christmas. (Not pictured are the huge Christmas dinner party and nativity reenactment that we host every year, and lots of fun times with Rick's parents including a visit to the Riverwalk to see the Christmas lights.)

For handmade gifts this year, I got several bamboo cutting boards and etched some little drawings in with a Dremel. It was a fun new thing to try out.

We did this the night before Christmas Eve, to avoid staying up all night on Christmas Eve. I think that just made us stay up late two nights in a row. Oh well, next year I will wrap in advance!! Rick had an entire week of for the holiday, which was really nice.

This is Faye with, not her grandma, but our next-door-neighbor. We have grown to really, really love them, and luckily they like us too and don't mind that two little girls to toddle over to their door every morning at 7:30 a.m. (They hang out with Granny Cheryl while I drive our kids and theirs to school.) Cheryl gave soft Christmas blankets to the kids, which was perfect, since Faye had stolen one of hers.

Isla actually prefers Cheryl, and will jump out of my arms to go see her anytime she can.

Sprinkling reindeer food on Christmas Eve. Carson is very vocally a non-believer, but for some reason he still thought the reindeer food was very important.

Santa sure works in mysterious ways. A trampoline just sort of appeared over the fence and, with the help of the neighbors, we set it up. (Santa scored it for free from someone who didn't want it!)

Ready to go downstairs...

Reading the note from Santa.

She later said that Cheetos were her favorite Christmas gift. Apparently better than the trampoline, baby dolls, etc.

Carson and Grandpa Sam setting of one of Carson's gifts, a rocket.

We celebrated seven years of marriage a couple of days after Christmas.