December

As always, December was a very busy month. We started off the month by decorating a gingerbread house. I must say, Costco made it very easy. The house was prebuilt and we got to do all the fun stuff. Josie did a great job and for the most part she did the whole thing "all by herself" which is how she likes to do things these days. Shockingly, 98% of the candies made it on the house and not in her tummy.

Thanks to our friends, Kurt and Dawna, our tree was delivered to our door this year!! What a treat! Here they are setting up the stand. We had a lot of fun decorating it this year with help from Josie. I'm bummed I didn't get a photo of the end result.

On December 6th, Saint Nicolas showed up to fill Josie's boots (and Marty's and mine.. thanks, Julie!!) with candy and treats.

Benjamin is getting to a really fun age. He looks a bit overwhelmed here but normally he LOVES "playing" with daddy and his big sister.

We made a few different batches of Christmas cookies. Connor, the neighbor, even helped with the candy cane cookies.

The week before Christmas we headed downtown to visit Santa. Jokingly, Marty had told Josie to be a good girl and to ask Santa for a job for her dad. So, when we get to Santa, Josie climbs up and says she wants a pinwheel and a job for her dad... Poor Santa didn't know what to say. Very seriously, he tells her that he really hopes her daddy finds a job in the new year.

Everything was going great. Amazingly, Benjamin was not scared at all but rather fascinated by the bearded man. And then... Santa makes a desperate plea for me to come get my son. Benjamin had taken a big handful of Santa's (very real and very attached) beard. Poor Santa.

After the visit with Santa we headed over to enjoy a carousel.

Benjamin enjoyed his first ride.

But really, all he wanted to do was lick the pole. He already had a horrible cold. I figured it couldn't get much worse.

Julie had a fun time, too.