Book Group Christmas

Each year my book group gathers for a year-end celebration. We eat (a lot), exchange gifts (all books, in a white-elephant-type gift exchange), and vote the 11 picks for next year. It's possibly my favorite event during the month of December (other than the actual Christmas Eve/Day hoopla with my little family).

I'm looking forward to (most) of the picks for this next year:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma

Girl in Translation by Jena Kwok

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach

When We Were Strangers by Pamela Scoenewaldt

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

Factory Girls by Leslie Change

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Christmas Fun

On the 2nd we took a family trip to Costco for all the typical purchases...with one exception. At the checkout we asked for a tree. You know, a Christmas tree. A semi trailer sat in the parking lot, noble firs wrapped up like presents, and with a receipt you could have them toss you one. Adios to wandering around in arctic cold tree lots searching for the perfect tree...just give me what you got, I'm happy. As it turns out, we were happy. It turned out to be a beautiful tree.

We started decorating right away.

Curtis was so excited to put his new Star Wars ornaments on. The same branch. All of them. (I did some rearranging when he wasn't looking.)

We started a new tradition this year...Lego Advent Calendars. We had a regular one for the girls and a Star Wars one for The Boy. So happy.

Meet Zizzy

We have a surprise house guest for the Christmas season. Her name is Zizzy (name carefully and thoughtfully chosen by our two girls, of course).

I didn't manage to take many pictures of Zizzy and her many antics throughout the month. In spite of the lack of daily documentation, she became a fun part of our holiday traditions we look forward to continuing next year.

In addition to hanging upside-down from a lamp, Zizzy also spent some time riding a moose, eating marshmallows and crackers, hiding in the Christmas tree, checking out the inside of a stocking, hanging out in a birdcage, and playing Farkle with a dinosaur...to mention only a few.

The girls loved waking up each morning and trying to find out where Zizzy hid the night before. (It was actually a FABULOUS help in getting them out of bed in time for school...go figure.)

See you next year, Zizzy!

Lindy

School pictures this year were something of a nightmare. (It's a rather long story I don't want to bore you with...sigh.) So, I decided to hustle Lindy outside for a quick photo-shoot this morning...to see if we could (better) capture my 8 1/2 year old.

She's growing up waaaaaayyyy too quickly (in my humble opinion).

The Boy

School Pictures - Fall 2011

So, he wasn't exactly cooperative with the photographer. I stood on the sidelines, less than surprised as he refused to respond to her many, kind attempts to produce a smile. But, I do know she did much better than I could have...he actually held still for her!

The haircut is courtesy of the Jones Family Clippers. That's what happens when our stylist is out of town...so don't judge, Kim. It could have been worse. Trust me.

He has kept us laughing, which is par for the course, this week. There were a couple things that stood out, however, and I knew I wanted to document.

As we were driving down the street the other day Curtis randomly asks, "Mom, do you like nuts?" Ignoring the oddity of the question, I responded, "Yes, I like nuts." He pondered this for a moment then added, "Hmmm. Only bad mommy's like nuts."

Last night he sidled up to me, gave me the sweetest, kindest smile he can produce and quietly asked, "Mommy, may I pleeeeeaaase have a yogurt to eat? Please?" With that he tipped his head ever so slightly to the side and batted his beautiful blue eyes. What could I do? I opened the fridge and told him, "Well, of course you can have a yogurt. You asked me so nicely!" He then grabbed the yogurt, let out a less-than-sweet chuckle, and said, "I was just pretending."

Oh dear.