Merry Christmas (insert your name here) !

Once again we have not done Christmas cards. I think this is the last year for that. I always said when I have friends my age send out cards, then I would finally start. Well, with the baby explosion this year, we have gotten a good number of cards from people I always thought to be less responsible than me. So I better step up!

So this is the last year for a generic HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone out there. That's to you! YOU!

So we have begun the preparations for the upcoming holiday. I have all my shopping done, except for Jay. As I've stated before, shopping for men in general, Jay in particular, is very difficult. But the rest is done and shipped! I do not advise going to the Post Office the week before Christmas, during the evening rush, with two small children...especially if one of them is Sam. Oh, it could have been worse, for sure. But standing in line for 20 minutes is just not in the kid's capabilities at this point. But we managed without causing too much damage, and receiving only a few looks of "what were you thinking bringing those two," and even got a few smiles of what I can only imagine was pity.

So first on the list was getting a tree. Being in Vermont, there are lots of options. I believe Christmas Trees are a major export. So we headed out after the last snow...it was quite beautiful. All the trees were covered with snow and we had a nice view of Mt. Mansfield while we looked for a good specimen to chop.





Sam thought the whole thing was a hoot. Putting a tree on the car, how silly! He is still fascinated by it every morning when he wakes up, asking me to "Turn on tree?" He uses the lights to practice his colors...which is going so-so. Everything is pretty much green. I think he does it to have an excuse to touch the tree, since the random swatting of branches had to be curtailed.

The next day we decorated.



I think from now on, we're going to get the tree on Sam's birthday. I think it will be a fun tradition, let him pick out the tree and then celebrate by decorating and opening his presents. And on a side note, I think on Joes birthday we will always get our pumpkins for Halloween.

So if you didn't realize, Sam has turned 2! He got a lot of great stuff. And to reprise the party from last year, we got all the December (and Ms. January, Sophie) together again. Man, they got so big. Last year I think only 2 of them were walking and now they're all talking! Our babies turned into little people. Crazy.



And how's Joe doing through all this activity?



He's a trooper!