Had Ourselves A Merry Little Christmas

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 VillageWhile G loved the polar bear tea with disco ballAnd we got to take our Christmas card photo in the snow for the first timeAt our church Advent craft fair, A got to be creative painting popsicle stick snowmenG made a paint-splatter glass ornament (horrors!) The new kitten, Fafnir, ogled the crap out of our upstairs Christmas treeWhich was almost as tall as our 9' ceilingsI 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 dinnerLuckily 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 dancingWe went outside to see the fresh snowAfter which everyone got verrrry sleepyChristmas morning dawned frosty and beautifulSanta had delivered lots of goodiesThe cats were a bit cranky about us opening what they felt were THEIR presentsThey did calm down after receiving homemade cat toys The wrapping carnage got pretty scaryAnd ungodly amounts of candy were consumedSome of us snuck away to sleep before....We headed off to Grandma's house for more gift-giving!And lots of affectionate exchangesPoor Sheila cowered in hopes that we would finish cluttering up her houseA discovered his 2 foot tall penguin made a good chairLater we took a few runs on the nearby sledding hillAnd A refused to sled with anyone but me (awww)
Christmas Day ended with a classic Wasatch Front sunset