Christmas

Christmas was nice. I had been thinking a lot about how this would be Abe's last Christmas with us…at least for a couple years…but the usual traditions just kept spinning along with no particular fanfare, and no particular time to think about their momentousness, and it was probably better that way. Our Christmas Eve Cafe Rio dinner is probably Abe's favorite tradition of all, so I'm glad he was here to do it one more time.

Seb did his 3 a.m. Christmas run with friends again—the one where they SPELL "Merry Christmas 2022" in the GPS map of their run. So cool. They are a funny, silly, dedicated group of boys!

Our Elf Olympics was short, silly, and missing a person who had gone to bed so as to be up running at 3 a.m. But we still had fun. We had to give Elf Recruitment pitches for this activity.

Malachi and Abe put together an impressive PowerPoint presentation.

Kids lined up to go see their stockings…Gus pulling anxiously at Daisy, Seb pounding out something festive on the piano.

Clementine's one present was this fish. She LOVES IT.

Ky's favorite present was a leatherbound Brandon Sanderson book

Seb's was this bike repair stand, which he immediately put to use

Playmobil Mars Rover for Teddy

Marigold's beautiful dress-up dress (with petticoat!)

She even lets her sisters wear it sometimes.

Junie's bally tiger

Ziggy got a toy chainsaw. I guess Teddy thought it was a real one when he first opened it, because he said in a worried but forcibly bright tone, "Well! I guess we'll just have to teach him to use it really carefully!" Hahaha. Ohhh. Yes. I'm sure this four-year-old would be fine as long as we told him to be really careful.

The leaf blower is, in fact, a real one. It was cheaper than the toy one I was looking at!

Gus got this dump truck to sit and ride on (so he would stop sitting on top of the other toy trucks we have, which are NOT MEANT to be sat on).

*Totally unsurprising update*: He still sits on the other ones.

Daisy's new sweater, camp chair, and penguin

Goldie and Junie also made this darling Calico Critter stage for Daisy, complete with tissue-paper curtains and changing backdrops and scenery.

Junie gave me HER MOST BEAUTIFUL polished rock. It's one she found in Crescent City on the beach, a deep black-red color, and it's so soft it feels like velvet. I have loved it ever since she found it, and so has she, and I couldn't believe she was so unselfish as to give it to me! I have been carrying it around in my pocket and rubbing it all day long.

Junie got a big marker set, which she put to good use immediately:

Teddy got a huge box of snap circuits.

We went to dinner at my mom's on Christmas Night. She wanted us to take the traditional picture of Baby in Rocking Chair. At first, Clementine would have no part of it…