We end up with this. In all fairness, Tommy's probably the one who insisted on "4 on the top, 2 on the sides!" That's been his haircut battle cry ever since David told him that's what he tells the barber in the summer. I'm pretty sure the barber didn't do too many buzz cuts like these on the coldest day of the year so far.
The boys insisted that we pull out all the Christmas decorations on Sunday, right after grandma and grandpa left. Tommy remembered most of them this year, but they were all new to Charlie. They had a bit of drama over the advent calendars, but eventually I was able to convince Tommy that it would be OK for his old playmobile one to go into Charlie's room. He gets the new Lego one. Both are wonderful advent calendars with a toy or figure for each day.
"The wild things gnash their terrible teeth and roll their terrible eyes."
Tommy's favorites are the animatronic Rudolph figures and his nutcracker.
Charlie and Tommy had a wonderful time decorating the tree this year. David put the lights up and then we didn't really have to do anything. They put up all the ornaments. I moved some of my favorite ones up to the top of the tree, but was tempted to just leave them all down at little boy height. It was very obvious that they'd trimmed the tree, and I kind of liked the effect.
Yes, all the pictures I took of Tommy were like this. He's lost his sweet "smile for the camera" skillz.
David and I are around too this time of year. I know I don't put enough pictures of us up for you, so here you go. I was rocking the exhausted and dying of consumption look in this one, but David doesn't take pictures of me all that often.
And finally, our winter preparations really moved into overdrive today with the arrival of snow. It only snows 3-4 times a year here, so we have to get out and enjoy it whenever we can. Thanks to my dad, they always have warm winter coats, and this year I even remembered to buy them some boots.
We always joke that I'm going to die of consumption like some 19th century tragic heroine. I don't actually have tuberculosis, of course, and I know that I am lucky to live where and when I do since antibiotics are my friends. It's just a running family joke because I get these miserable lingering chest coughs that last forever. So if my absence has had you wondering...I'm perfectly well except the whole dying of consumption thing. Coughing up a lung is no fun.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Mel & Sylvia. They're so relaxing. It's never fun to be sick over Thanksgiving, but at least I was home and David and his parents were here to entertain the boys for me. They all went out hiking at the petroglyphs one morning, as I languished on the couch with a book and some tea. Dying of consumption has its advantages.
We cooked the usual yummy goodies. We had cranberry bread and sausage balls for breakfast Thanksgiving morning. We had a gigantic turkey - the best one we've ever cooked thanks to the Pioneer Woman brining method. We also had rolls (but not enough of them), mashed potatoes and Sylvia's really yummy gravy, cranberry jello salad, green bean casserole, a corn and wild rice dish that wasn't cooked long enough to set, and marinated Brussels sprouts. Dessert was sweet potato pudding and Julia Child's apple crisp.
I've decided that family holiday meals are actually kind of hard on little boys. They just aren't old enough to have any sense of nostalgia or food memories yet. It's just a bunch of unfamiliar food with lots of waiting. Tommy ate a turkey leg and some mashed potatoes. Charlie just ate mashed potatoes, a couple of green beans ("what's on them, Mommy?") and one Brussels sprout. The four adults ate everything else.
Yeah. The pictures aren't great this year. Cut me some slack. I was dying of consumption. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
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