Holiday countdown

Well, we are well and truly in the midst of the holiday season. The first Christmas party was Friday night and, while it was fun, made us realize how much we have to accomplish between now and Christmas.

As you can see, the boys and I had a good time at home on Thursday. The weather was still nice enough for a good long walk with Miss Nicole. Griff got tired (and wet) toward the end and threw and absolute fit about two blocks from home. Mom ended up carrying him which was a mistake -- he weighs an absolute ton!

Saturday we decided to call off going to cut down a Xmas tree and simply send Dad out to buy one instead. It wasn't warm enough in the morning to drag Thing One and Thing Two out. All that was going to be accomplished was wasting a whole bunch of time and energy. We can re-start that tradition next year.

Dad has made some sort of Rube Goldberg contraption to hold the Christmas tree which he swears that Griffith can not defeat. Personally, I think that sort of announcement is needlessly confrontational. Griff has nothing but time and opportunity to defeat any innovations. It makes me think of those 'squirrel-proof' feeders -- given enough time the little rodent is going to defeat you. Still, relying upon his representations, we have decorated a lovely tree. The Tube Of Ornaments were a huge hit, but the wind has already blown the decorations off of the porch. Time to put a brick in the bottom of the planter.

At any rate, it is starting to look like Christmas, at least at our house. The tree is up and fully decorated. The mantle is about half-way (needs more greenery). The nativity scenes are up. (We had to stage a man-hunt for the Baby Jesus who had gone missing from one, but we managed to find him without too much effort.) Lights are hung on the outside, but (of course) there is one strand that stubbornly refuses to cooperate. And it would have to be in the middle instead of being conveniently located to one end or the other.

The boys have now been fed, bathed and snuggled. (Twice for Griff who wakes up consistently 20 to 40 minutes after he first goes to sleep.)

Good night and sweet dreams!