Not a lot of great pictures over the last few months sadly. I guess that’s what happens when we’re so busy.
Redflare took the kids out to a ‘dinner with Santa’ event at the local fire station. They loved it.
The food wasn’t overly impressive in Newbie’s eyes, and Thunderer opted to just have a cookie. :p
Food wasn’t the main reason to go though, so it works.
-FF
Home is where the decorations are.
After the pumpkin patch we stopped by Menards real quick on the way home. A section of our fence blew down and we wanted to price how much the new slats and posts would be.
While there we enjoyed looking at some of the Christmas decorations… a bit early, but fine, go ahead Menards, as long as I’m not setting up my tree yet I guess you can go ahead.
-FF
Mom and Pops came north mid January for a visit and to celebrate a Christmas with us.
The super generous results were quite surprising and appreciated.
It just so happens that it was also Pops’ birthday weekend so we snuck a cake into the mix.
Papparazi-ness ensued for sure then. They gave us a new camera!?
Have to christen a camera with a selfie, right?
And then surprise TJ with a guitar too!
And since there’s a new camera in the mix, expect there to be more pictures from here on out!
It’d be hard, four months later, to really encapsulate everything with a narration so I won’t. :p
Instead, how about some more pictures!
-FF
Over Christmas break it was important for TJ to host his girlfriend at least once. We obliged so that we could also get a good picture of them.
-FF
Lady Grey was mostly unimpressed with Christmas activities.
She did take advantage of a warm place to cuddle into the evening though.
Meanwhile, Big Red patiently (more or less) rode in Little Miss’ kitty pouch sweatshirt.
Building ensued happily too.
Alon with some gaming.
While we parents who were up late for reasons treat ourselves to some caffeine.
(Redflare got a new mug.)
-FF
The tradition of a picture on the stairs has been something that has been with us since we had bedrooms on an upper level and the tree on the lower level and only two younglings.
It’s hard getting them all in the shot at this point, but we manage.
The first place we head to is the table where Santa’s response rests.
It’s amazing that these two are old enough to read the note themselves now.
This year the note was accompanied by a picture of Rudolph.
We didn’t take a lot of pictures of the grand openings, mostly because we wanted to bask and enjoy the morning with everyone too, but here are a few highlights.
-FF
Well, we’re only four months late for Christmas 2017 I suppose, right?
I’m not quite sure how we evolved into our present tradition. When we were growing up we both got to open a gift on Christmas Eve. For me, it was generally a parental recommended gift from under the tree. For Redflare it usually was a package containing pajamas.
With the large… gathering(?) (what _is_ a good term for those of us with lots of kids?) we converted that to the “Christmas Eve Box” where they find some candy, something cozy potentially, and some soda. Soda is a rare treat in the house for them.
With the box done, perhaps we’ll have some cookies.
And eventually they’re chased off to bed for final prep, leaving their notes for Santa out usually inspires a response of some kind.
It’ll see the stockings stuffed with care…
And the tree very ready to go.
-FF
