The tree is up

Today we brought out the Christmas decorations. That sounds grander than it was - we have a fake tree we keep in our storage closet, a few strings of lights, and some hand-me-down ornaments. It took less than five minutes to dig out. Since we like to move every year or so, it helps to keep things streamlined. Zeke, however, would have been thrilled if all we had was the lights.

The best part of the decorating procedure was when I asked Zeke to bring out the Momma, Dadda, and Baby from his toy chest. He went right to the toy box and pulled out our plastic nativity set and helped to set it up under the tree. He likes to put the baby in the manger and then sign to me that the baby is sleeping. It's cute.

The worst part of the decorating event is that Zeke credits Dad with everything. If you give him a chance to tell you about the Christmas tree there's a lot of "Dadda this" and "Dadda that", and some "Zeke this" too, but apparently I was hiding under the couch the whole time.

Not so much turkey

Our family had a fabulous Thanksgiving, made possible by all the fun grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles who were involved. Thank you! We did not participate in a traditional Thanksgiving feast, but we had way too much fun playing at parks, running wild at both Grandmas' houses, and visiting an indoor playplace.

As a bonus, Mike and I got to practice driving long distance with Zeke (there was a three hour car trip at one point) and we gained some hope that we won't all die on the upcoming Mother-Of-All-Road-Trips-For-Uncle-Bee's-Wedding. That road trip will be happening in approximately three weeks and involves a very scary, seven hour drive. One way.

I took lots of pictures but they all came out grainy or blurry or with one of my fingers obscuring the lens. I think our camera battery is getting old.

Official Christmas Kickoff

Last Saturday we attended a Holiday Season Opening Ceremony (aka StartBuyingLikeCrazy'CauseWeHaveStuffToSell) at an outdoor mall just north of here. The ad in the paper said that it was going to be a festive event with live music and dancing performances and an "architectural tree" lighting event.

Mike said that he would rather have gone to Target.

We ditched the event before it was done and took a stroll down the Promenade. Zeke loved the fountains and would have happily thrown himself in, even though it was rather chilly outside.

I saw a man playing an Arhoo - exactly like the one I brought back from China - and his music did not sound like dying, tortured cats. Not good enough for me to buy his CD, but quite commendable for an Arhoo.

Learning Life Skills

At last! A significant milestone has been reached!