Grandma Visits, Jen's New Boot and Merry Christmas!

Well, here is the boot. Jen loves wearing this thing. It makes her feel stylish in a very special way.

In other exciting news, Jen's Mom came out to stay with us for a few days. I know that Jen really needed the help. I have put in a few pictures here. You'll see Max in a new pair of pajamas doing some sort of Tae Kwon Do demonstration. He got his finger slammed in a door at preschool this week. It is still purple and the nail looks like it is going to come off. He asked the other day if he could stop going to preschool and just go back to Tae Kwon Do. Interestingly enough, he suffered less injuries there.

I tried and tried to get a shot of Max and Mallory on the couch looking cute. Max was really into that popsicle.


Here's a shot of Max with the Moose that he made at a birthday party last week. He has Christmas lights on his antlers that actually light up. The ensemble is really brought together with a Batman T-shirt. We are at the height of fashion in this house.


Behind Max you'll notice there are a couple of gifts already under the tree. My mother sent a small gift for each of the "12 Days of Christmas". When Jen set them out the other day he immediately grabbed one and began to unwrap it. Even hile sporting "the boot" she scranbled across the room in time to stop him. He was very upset until we explained to him that the presents were for Christmas and the few days just before Christmas. After we talked about it he said, "I didn't know they were Christmas presents. I thought they were just presents. I won't open them. I'll wait until Christmas." Here are a couple more shots of Max and Mallory. Thanks Jewel for taking these great pictures.

While shopping for a gift for his younger sister, Max became increasingly irritated by the fact that we wouldn't put anything into the shopping cart for him. Eventually he bolted across the store and I had to sprint all the way across Kohl's to catch him. When I did, he began a complete meltdown. So I wrestled him out to the car for a timeout and hoped that store employees had not called the police. Once he calmed down and announced he was ready to talk I explained to him that we were there to look for presents for his little sister and then he and I would go out in a couple of days to look for presents for Mom. His lower lip began to quiver and he asked, "Who is going to look for presents for me?" He was genuinely worried that he was not going to get anything for Christmas. So I gave him another detailed explanation about Santa Claus. Given the context, I started with the naughty and nice list. I then explained to him that his Mom and I had already bought him a few presents and they were a secret. He was starting to get pretty excited about Christmas. At the end of our little chat in the car he said, "Dad, you and Mom and Mallory can get me presents and I am going to try to figure out what they are. We'll get Mom some presents but we won't tell her what they are. She'll try and figure it out" He probably will tell her. He is admittedly bad at keeping secrets. He says he doesn't know how.

I am as excited for this Christmas as any. I remember when I was little and we would sit up in my sister's room and talk until late. We would set alarms for an hour before the "wake up" time that had been painstakingly negotiated with my parents the night before. Without fail, we would gather on the stairs and wait until everyone had assembled. Dad would then announce that Santa had not come that year and we all needed to go back to bed. We would all groan and then he would turn us loose one at a time (there were 7 kids in my family). Christmas was always so amazing growing up. Now that Max really understands what is going on and is talking about it and building up the anticipation, I have found myself (especially today) getting really excited about it. I wonder how late Jen and I will stay up talking and how early we'll get up. I wonder if Max will cry when I pull the same stunt that my Dad did. (100 percent chance I say it. 100 percent chance it will make him cry.) I guess I just hope that Max doesn't run down there without waking us up first. I would hate to miss watching him run into the room.