Christmas '09

Little S got what she wanted - a nutcracker from Grandma and Grandpa M. This "nutcracker" dispenses M&Ms through its mouth!

It was a lovely holiday. My mom was visiting from Utah and my little brother made it in from DC. He was a victim of the big snow storm on the east coast that shut down the DC airports for the weekend before Christmas. After sitting in the airport for 8 hours only to have his flight cancelled, he went home and flew out the next morning - upgraded to first class all the way! (During those 8 hours in the airport the travelers in his gate got so angry and rowdy about the lack of information that security guards were brought in to keep things under control! Uncle D was not part of the riots, though :)

Grandma arrived on Christmas Eve and decorated one of the walls in Little S's room like a gingerbread house, complete with candy around the windows! Needless to say, Little S was eating said candy off the walls for a few days before I took the installation down and threw it all away.

D constructed fantastic stockings as usual. His tradition is to make outlandish stockings for each member of the family and this year was no exception.
Auntie L's head is barely visible as she dives into her paintbrush stocking - representing all of the home renos she and Matt (and his FJ, visible through the window) were part of this year.

Uncle D got a giant bag of coal (no real coal inside, though).

Matt is obsessed with zipties so his stocking was constructed from snow fencing and zipties.
Baby's first Christmas. She loves to hug anything soft and her new babydoll got a big hug after it was opened.

Another tradition: passing this VHS version of Beauty and the Beast (remember that?) to a new owner in the family. Uncle D was the recipient this year.

The new easel gets broken in on the front porch the morning after Christmas. I'm loving the oilcloth splat mats I got in LA!