We began our holiday season with a festive winter solstice celebration with some friends at their farm. After playtime, songs, snack, and a story, we went outside where Declan received some surprise horse kisses!
We ended our gathering with a bonfire – here’s Declan with his buddy Olin trying to “catch” the smoke.
We made our first gingerbread house together – here’s Declan lending a hand to Daddy during assembly.
And here he’s putting on the finishing touches…..after having tried all of the candy personally. You know, quality control and all.
(Shopping for the candy was such a special moment in time, never to be repeated. Declan doesn’t get too much candy around here, so when we were in that aisle at the supermarket, Erica would hand him bag after bag to put in the cart, and he would look at the M&M’s and the Twizzlers quizzically and ask, “That’s candy, mommy?” Sigh. It will never be like this again….)
Here’s a photo of the finished product, with a close-up of the “tree incident.” Being our first gingerbread house and all, we ran into a couple of issues, such as one side breaking because Erica forgot to cut out the window while the cookie was still soft. So it broke. Instead of “caulking” it back together with the icing, Mike suggested we capitalize on it and call it “tree falls on house.” So there it is, complete with rubble, both inside and out. We’re still laughing.
OK, so here it is – a piece of the magic we experienced this Christmas. This one is the first one where Declan started connecting the dots – Jesus, Santa, reindeer, waiting to open gifts, carols, all of it. This photo is from Christmas Eve, where he made cookies and left some for Santa, along with some eggnog and some cut carrots for the reindeer. By the way, whoever thought of promoting the idea that Santa doesn’t come unless you’re sleeping was BRILLIANT! The kid went right to bed. The next morning, he wanted to read some biblical Christmas stories, then asked excitedly, “Did Santa come last night?” He was so delighted to find the snacks had been eaten up and that he could open up his gifts.
We had a special Christmas with Gemma and Papa, and the next day with Grandpa, “Gumpa,” and Cousin Barbara as well. We celebrated “across the miles” with Grandma and Great-Grandma in Florida; Uncle Steven, Aunt Marsha, and cousin Andy in Suwanee, Georgia; Aunt Linda, and cousins Ian and Kyle in Lawrenceville, GA; Great-Aunt Elisa in Ohio; and Uncle George and Auntie Vanessa and their adorable new daughter, COUSIN KAI LIAN, in China!! Yippee!! We’re so excited to meet this newest member of our family.