Saturday 1/7/12: Pizza & Presents

I am just realizing how much she's been wearing these pajamas. They get washed, and then I pick them off the top of the laundry pile because they're my favorite. Maybe we should rotate a few more pajamas into the mix.

And yes, I realize this is a particularly bad picture. We visited Nick's dad's family, and celebrated a little bit of Christmas.

Tuesday 12/20/11: The Special Guest at the Cookie Exchange

I was invited to a cookie exchange. I wanted to go, but on the day of the event didn't make cookies. My weak excuse for cookies was generic thin mints, but I think they are delicious. Henry was sitting on the chair and answering questions people asked him. He's growing up so fast.

Monday 12/19/11: He is Getting Closer to the Christmas Story

Last year, he used the stable as a garage and ran over the holy family with the donkey cart. This year we play with the nativity while we read the story of Jesus's birth
He's getting some of the original story right, but he's using a lot of literary license. The camel seemed to be eating the angel, baby Jesus is getting pulled in the cart by a camel, and Lightning McQueen and Thomas are present at the holy birth.

Friday 12/16/11: The Ugly Sweater Gala

I went to the annual ugly sweater party, wearing a t-shirt silk screened to look like an ugly sweater. That didn't hold a candle to the Extremely festive sweaters in attendance. There was one ensemble involving appliqués on white sweats (top and bottom) that belongs in the hall of fame if they ever build one.
The white elephant game is always fun, and here the hostess Lindsy is showing her ultimate prize: the lobster-shaped candy dish. Fun night. My teenage neighbor watched the kids and they seemed to have a great evening too. Other prizes included a bicycle bell and a VHS of "How to Mate Hamsters. ". I took home a hand crocheted doll/air freshener cozy.

Friday 12/2/11: That Must Have Been Delicious

Friday night at a friend's house I managed to tip an entire pizza upside down in the oven, because I am awesome like that. The pizza mess was only slightly larger than the one made by Henry with a cookie.

We went to a local village's Christmas walk. Henry petted a reindeer, got a candy cane from Santa, and had a poinsettia painted on his hand. Georgia stayed bundled up in her car seat.

Friday 11/25/11: A Visit with Santa

I met Nick downtown after he finished his work at Northwestern. We went to the Christkindlemarket, but it was so crowded it was like being at Walmart at midnight the night before (which I also did.) Since it was not any fun, we decided to walk over to Xoco, a Rick Bayless restaurant. We ate there about 7 months ago, but at that time I accidentally ordered soup and it was spicy. The menu is in Spanish terms and comes with no glossary. We decided to go look at the lights on Michigan Ave, and on the way we decided to go into Nordstrom on a whim. By whim, I mean we needed to use their beautiful and clean bathrooms. We stumbled onto this Santa event sponsored by Windows 7 and Southwest. The kids got their pictures with Santa, they demonstrate photomerge (Santa's head on Gigi's picture is from a different shot) which was very cool, they printed a picture, then email them to you. FOR FREE! Great Santa, right? That's a real beard. However, because we were surprised by this, my kids were dressed for comfort and warmth more than looks. If I had known we would have taken their Christmas outfits, and now that it's colder I probably won't take them downtown again before Christmas.