Various and sundry: :

In my family of origin (there's a therapy term for you!) there was a dearth of Christmas traditions (sorry mom, but it's true). We did all the normal stuff like opening presents, but the tree was from the local tree lot, there wasn't a lot of Christmas music played, it was pretty basic. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just saying. So as the kids get older it has been more and more fun to creat traditions of our own. Making Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies, and for the first year, cutting down our tree. We went to a place we found on Craigslist which turned out to be someone's house in Sandy. I highly recommend it as they sell big gorgeous trees for $10, any size.

Here we are getting ready for the search.
Molly looks great in her striped tights and ladybug boots. I wish I could pull that look off. When we pulled up there was a little boy sitting outside the garage opening candy canes. He pointed us in the right direction. Later he graciously gave Molly and Amos each a candy cane.

Bryan "looks for trees" or, in other words, takes the opportunity to capture a nice self portrait.
He's looking good, as always. Ladies, it's ok to be jealous. I snagged myself a hottie. And look at those pretty trees in the background!

I love Molly, she loves me. We love Daddy, yessiree. He loves Amos, so you see--we are a happy fam-i-ly. Except for Amos who is not smiling in this particular shot.


Molly oversees the cutting process. I feel a tad guilty cutting down a living thing to put in my living room and decorate. Shortly after this she and Amos ran away to look at the pony and feed it dirt.
The finished product.
After tree set up treat:
Popcorn and hot cocoa.

In other news it snowed. A lot. And got icy. And annoying. But it was pretty and fun for a day or two.

The first steps outside. Molly explores cautiously, while Amos runs right out. Pretty much illustrates the difference in their personalities.


My boy. Almost as cute as his father.
My girl. Definitely way cuter than her mother.

Meanwhile, I made breakfast for the kids and later found this at the table.

That's one slice toast, jam licked off with one bite missing. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to cook when I know they would be perfectly happy with crackers and water to eat all day.

And a final question: do I have a problem here? These are the books I'm reading at the moment, stacked up by my bed. Bryan just shakes his head and laughs. Or curses when he trips over all my books laying next to the bed, and couch, and table, and....you get the idea.