Christmas Snipets (the requisite post)

i know what you're thinking... you're thinking something like "self, did you know christmas has already passed? is it possible that the chaos of the season has left me oblivious to time and reason?"

let me assure you, you are not crazy, it really is the 17th

i however may be crazy, because my only child will be away from me on this, my most favorite of all holidays to be a mother. the stress and anxiety always hits me about a week beforehand. every day closer to her departure the panic increases - especially when winter roads and mountain passes are in order.

but, back to the matter at hand, i don't really have a favorite holiday to be a mother because lets face it, i can be downright sappy on any given day regardless of its legally-paid-time-off status. since the munchie will be headed to denver on saturday (which i hear is is beyond c-o-l-d at the moment) where she will get to celebrate the season and frolic through the frozen winter delight (something like this) in a different (read: mom-less) way, i had to take matters into my own hands and celebrate early. was that a little selfish? you bet.

it was an all-about-aeryn kind of evening. dinner of pancakes, sausage, fruit salad and oj, followed by a dessert of gift-unwraping.



great-grandma scored big with this pink poodle (appropriately named "poodle"). i'd been trying gently to inform the kidlet that "no, honey, you're not getting a pet for christmas" but this puppy totally filled that void, and did it in a i-can-even-sleep-on-the-bed kind of way

of course, i did ok too. the dollhouse is a huge hit. and huge is the right word as even though i saw one assembled and on display, i didn't realize the exact stature of it relative to, oh, everything else we own.

then to top it all off we made gingerbread houses tonight. i actually baked these to do with cadence last weekend but we did the trees instead. we had to use them up, of course!



these three pictures are hilarious to me. she honestly believed that because she was behind the house and i was behind the camera, i couldn't see that she was eating the candy.

i think i feel complete. we've played and celebrated and talked about the real reason we have christmas and now i can send her to her dad's feeling somewhat ok about it. and while i don't want time to pass before my very eyes, is it the 27th yet?