Season's Greetings! I know it's been ages, and honestly I have no other excuse for not posting than "it's the holidays", which does sound pretty lame. But I really have been busy with other things, namely: taking small boys sledding, baking, cleaning like crazy for all those non-existent guests that just might show up unannounced over the weekend, decorating for Christmas, soapmaking, ornament making, still more cleaning, visiting relatives, observing Advent, and the tireless creation of more than 20 unique knit hats. I thought I would never finish those in time, to tell the truth. Now that all that's past, I can try to catch you up on our seasonal celebrations through pictures. Here we go!
I did some Thanksgiving baking (mmm, pink lady apples make the best pie!)
And we saw the lights display at Layton City Park 
G tried valiantly to watch the Ogden Christmas Parade over the heads of big people (some of whom were less than kindly)
We took a break from the cold to see the fabulously free Christmas Tree Jubilee at the Eccles Center (this was my favorite, duh)
A was enthralled by the miniature version of Union Station (complete with running train) at the Ogden Christmas Village
While G loved the polar bear tea with disco ball
And we got to take our Christmas card photo in the snow for the first time
At our church Advent craft fair, A got to be creative painting popsicle stick snowmen
G made a paint-splatter glass ornament (horrors!) 
The new kitten, Fafnir, ogled the crap out of our upstairs Christmas tree
Which was almost as tall as our 9' ceilings
I got to decorate our very own mantel (another first)
We got a little snow....
Which turned into a lot of snow, and led to us being housebound for Christmas Eve dinner
Luckily I had chocolate cheesecake and blueberry port to console me 
I took a glamour shot of the tree (with a little help from our friend Vaseline)
Then I turned on The Flying W Wranglers "A Cowboy Christmas"
And the boys engaged in some festive dancing
We went outside to see the fresh snow
After which everyone got verrrry sleepy
Christmas morning dawned frosty and beautiful
Santa had delivered lots of goodies
The cats were a bit cranky about us opening what they felt were THEIR presents
They did calm down after receiving homemade cat toys 
The wrapping carnage got pretty scary
And ungodly amounts of candy were consumed
Some of us snuck away to sleep before....
We headed off to Grandma's house for more gift-giving!
And lots of affectionate exchanges
Poor Sheila cowered in hopes that we would finish cluttering up her house
A discovered his 2 foot tall penguin made a good chair
Later we took a few runs on the nearby sledding hill
And A refused to sled with anyone but me (awww)
Christmas Day ended with a classic Wasatch Front sunset
Happy Halloween from us folks at the Nuclear Bungalow! All you exciting people are probably going to be at parties or with friends. I'm going to be chauffeuring two small children between church carnivals, local mall, and any neighbors that are brave enough to stay home passing out candy. Then I'll tuck the sugar-saturated tots in and watch my Halloween standbys: The Exorcist & Session 9, before blowing out the pumpkins and crawling to bed.
"Reine des Violettes" Hybrid perpetual rose
"Gertrude Jekyll" English shrub rose
A Special Thanks to all the flickr members who by taking these pictures allowed me, someone that hasn't gardened in YEARS, to plan out her dream garden with stunning visuals.