It’s the most wonderful time of the year, part one

I really love the Christmas season: pageants and ballets, music and lights, Christmas trees, hot chocolate (or peppermint mocha’s), white elephants, parties, friends and family, and of course for the Douglass family, a little thing called Christmas break (we have earned it this year!). So, I’m sure that I’ll have a bunch of pics to share over the next weeks, hence the reason this is part one.

The boys and I built a gingerbread house the other night. It was delicious — equal parts creating and eating. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the actual event due to the mass amounts of powdered sugar and icing on myself and the boys. But, below is a picture I took as I caught Burke sneaking candies off of our humble gingerbread home. 

caught red-handed

This is also the first year that we took the kids to see Santa. Up until now, it just seemed like an exhausting feat for something they probably wouldn’t  remember. So, Mark and I decided to take them to a park here in town that has the lights, hayrides, Santa, shows, treats and drinks…for free. We bundled up (because it was near freezing) and waited outside in the line to see Santa. While we were in line, there was this deceptively big puddle near us (half on concrete, half in the grass). Liam walked toward it and without hesitation tried to jump over it. “Tried” being the key word — he missed and slipped onto his back intothe puddle. Everyone around us: “ooohh….” Liam was obviously embarrassed and starts crying. Mark took him inside to get hot chocolate and when he returned, he still chose to wait in the line to see Santa (now with wet pants and pj pants underneath). What a trooper.