A New Tradition

I wasn't sure how we would feel about going back to Timbuk Tree Farm this year.  Sometimes I feel really sad doing things that we always did with Rick.  So this year we decided to patronize the Christmas tree lot at the boys' school.  The Christmas tree sale is the longest running fundraiser for the school and every year we admire the beautiful trees they have.  This year was no different.  We found the perfect, lovely, full tree.  And the nice volunteers tied it to the top of the car for me!

We managed to get the tree set up inside and decorated all by ourselves. 

It's a byoot! 

Rick would be proud.

Just To Recap

So Santa came

And ate his hotdog with spicy mustard

And left gifties 

(a triumphant photo of The First Gift of Christmas)

And then we played

And played

And played

 And didn't even give a second thought to the mess of boxes and paper and little pieces of stuff adrift that was building up around us.  After all, that is clearly a job for the Day After Christmas.

Christmas Festivities

Grandma and Grandpa arrived

and the mad gingerbread house decorating commenced.

Atkinson Piano Studio Holiday Concert

The Atkinson Piano Studio Holiday Concert was a lovely way to spend a pre-Christmas crush afternoon.

This is Will with his wonderful piano teacher.

(At least, that is the tall, wise, poised, practically grown up person who masquerades as my baby boy these days)

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving at Grandma's house was full of fun- traditional fun and new fun!

On the day after Thanksgiving, my brother wanted to visit the Christmas Tree Farm owned by the family of his high school friend, Sean.  The intention was for my brother and his girlfriend to tag the tree they wanted so they could go back later and cut it down.  Well I guess Black Friday hysteria can extend even to Christmas Tree Farms because, once we got out there and beheld the charm of the beautiful mountain setting and ran around a bit in the fresh snow, we accidentally found... 

The Perfect Tree! 

And Sean cut it down for us, loaded it on the back of the gator, hauled it back to the twining station (he let the boys ride along in the gator, making him The Coolest Christmas Tree Farm Owner Of All Time In Perpetuity), twined it, and loaded it on top of the car.  It was pretty much Celebrity Christmas Tree Farm Treatment.  We were having so much fun that my brother decided to go ahead and cut his tree and my parents found a tree, too!  But only our tree rode all around town that weekend and all the way back to Ohio.

I was a little sad that this meant we would forego our annual trip to Timbuk but... well... the boys got to ride in the gator and... the perfect tree!

Saturday brought the Everett Christmas Parade with cousin Rachel in a starring role playing flute in the High School Band and a Santa drive by.

Then it was off to Roaring Spring to ride the Santa Train and get some more Santa face time.  This year we learned something new, courtesy of the hot dog stand that is set up at the train station for hungry passengers.  As we were waiting to get off the train at the end of the ride, Will noticed that Santa had made a dash for the hot dog stand.  

And that Santa likes hot dogs.  

With spicy mustard.  

So guess what we're leaving for Santa this year instead of cookies.

By the time we made it to the Amish greenhouse to pick our Christmas wreaths, Soren was so tired he found a spot to relax in a handy chair amid the poinsettia. Whew!

Like the bow on top of a particularly beautiful Christmas package, we went out for breakfast after church on Sunday and had

Reindeer Pancakes.

If that doesn't put you in the Christmas Spirit, nothing will my friends.

Santa! I know him!

Before Christmas Season kicked into high gear, Santa made a stop at our house to ring jingle bells, tell jokes, visit for a bit, collect our letters, and pull a small treat from his magic bag to remind us to be good (for goodness sake) so coal doesn't come out of that bag on Christmas morning.

The Two Best Kept Secrets of the Columbus Zoo

OK, the world knows that we have the best zoo.  

That is no secret.  

But even our awesome, world-renowned zoo has a couple of hidden gems.

  

Secret #1: The Columbus Zoo has the most beautiful Santa.  We are talking real beard, jolly demeanor, and the most amazing red velvet Santa suit.  He has several variations that I have seen, sometimes with a coat, sometimes with just a vest over a puffy shirt.  My favorite touch is a gorgeous big brass belt buckle that says Santa and this year I noticed that the buckles on his boots have the same design. Just gorgeous!

You have to plan your visit to the zoo Santa just right because the line is usually excruciatingly long, but if you happen to go on a less crowded day, and if you happen to be able to keep your children from going bonkers while they wait, the payoff is amazing Santa pictures: beautiful backdrop, beautiful Santa, beautiful!  

And the zoo will happily sell you as many copies of the picture as you want and make them into ornaments or snow globes or tuck them into picture frames they conveniently have on hand.  Because I am a sucker- we have all of these things.  But I love them, so what is the harm?

This year the zoo advertised Breakfast with Santa and it seemed like a no brainer.  Not only would we get to see the beautiful zoo Santa in a hopefully more crowd-controlled setting, we would get to have breakfast with him and Mrs Claus!  Awesome!

And the zoo did a great job as always.  There were Zoo Ambassadors chatting up the kids and posing for pictures, zookeepers holding interesting animals that the kids could pet, a guy doing amazing yo-yo tricks and juggling, festive face painters, a chance to decorate your own Christmas cookie, coloring pages, -oh- and also breakfast.

Santa arrived to much fanfare and spent time with each family.  It was very nice.

My only complaint was that they didn't set up Santa's regular backdrop.  So we did get our pictures with the beautiful Santa, but the background is a green cinderblock wall with a fake ficus tree.  There might even be an electric outlet in view.  Well, you can see for yourself:

Probably the only person who cared was me so I will let it go and focus on the Magic and Wonder of the day.

Secret #2: The zoo in winter.  Sure the zoo does a great job with Wild Lights, but I think that the zoo is also open during some days in the winter.  After Breakfast with Santa, the boys begged us to walk around the zoo a little bit.  It was definitely chilly, but as you know there are plenty of indoor attractions.  And it was right around noon so the animals were ready for their lunches and were up and moving around.  Of course the sturdy animals of North America- the bison, the wolves, the moose- were out and about.  And we got to see Santa's reindeer preparing for their long journey.

And we practically had the zoo ALL TO OURSELVES! 

If you have a zoo membership I would definitely recommend using it year round.

And maybe I'll call someone about that Santa photo backdrop... 

Oh, Christmas Tree

We took advantage of the unseasonably balmy weather in early December to sneak out to Timbuk Tree Farm on a Wednesday afternoon and hunt the perfect tree.  

Will lobbied heavily for a White Pine this year and, after our experience with the beautiful but prickly Blue Spruce last year, we were all wooed by the soft, fluffy needles of the White Pine.

The guys thought they had found the perfect tree right off, but were disappointed to learn they had selected a wild 40 foot tree on the property (a la Griswold Family Christmas) and not a rationally sized farm tree.  

Together we found a lovely fluffy tree and transported it home strapped to the top of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster (a la Griswold Family Christmas).

Santa Train

After the parade we were off to ride the Santa Train.  This must be the fourth or fifth year we've made the trip.

We're getting a lot of face time with Santa this year.   So far no one has asked why Santa looks slightly different every time we see him.  I'm hoping it doesn't matter- Santa is Santa, right? As long as he's packing candy canes.

This was my attempt at artsy chistmas-decoration-on-the-train photo

Are We in Bedford Falls?

Nothing like a small town Christmas parade to get you in the spirit.  We bundled up and ventured out early to get a good spot along the parade route.  My grandma had possibly the best spot- she can watch the parade out her kitchen window.  Since my cousin was performing with her dance troupe, we wanted to make sure she could hear us cheering her on.  

One veterans' group, one high school marching band, several church-sponsored nativity scenes, possibly every emergency vehicle in the county, and- oh- a jolly Santa waving from his sleigh later, we were ready to start our Christmas season.

Yes, Virginia

There has been some idle chatter around our house recently about Santa not being real (gasp).

Santa's elves must have reported to him because he paid us a surprise visit!

He did the typical Santa things like asking the boys if they had been naughty or nice, finding out what toys were on their Christmas lists and reminding them to be good for mom and dad.  

He also read them 'Twas The Night Before Christmas', told some jokes and asked them to remember that Christmas is also the birth of Our Lord.

I think we managed to prolong the belief a little while longer in the Magic and Wonder.

Thank You, Santa!
(It was priceless to hear Soren shouting, "It's Santa! Santa Claus is here!")