Christmas Eve; hanging out......

 Well....actually....none of these pictures are from Christmas Eve today....these are from last week when we got home from Mass and the kids started playing with their toys....they were having a tea-party together.....dressed to the nines, as Jay Ponticelli would say, in their culinary garb, even....

Today is a great day at the Goldsmith house...just hanging out, baking cookies, smoking hams, puttering around, and, soon, opening theeeeeeeeeeeeeeee most coveted Storyteller Dopplebock from Oak Pond Brewery....As I write this, Jon and Kelsey are here, and we're just hanging around....Callum is eating a donut (he just woke up from sleeping....he is sick today with a fever!).

Even though Christmas is so awesome with Callum and Maira, I think it is natural to reminisce to when I was a kid and CHristmas was a different kind of magic; Kristin and I had a pretty good "Christmas Life" growing up....one memory that stands out was always Nana Courtney's Christmas party....particularly the stocking. Nana would always give kids UNDER 13 a killer gift...and kids OVER 13 a check for fifty dollars. But EVERYONE got the stocking. I have always said that the stocking stuffers are the best part of Christmas presents. I love them. They represent of a symbiotic #shadesofscience relationship, as they are just as much fun to BUY as they are to RECEIVE. A typical Nana stocking would contain things like this (and, Kris, help me out if I am missing anything...): A glue stick. Tube socks with red and orange stripes. A Life Savers storybook pack. A doodle pad. Mittens. Thermal socks. Fruit flavored chap stick. Pens. Candy Canes. An eighth of heroin. Scotch tape. pencils. Magnets. And Christmas M&Ms.....

Hey...look....it is a dinosaur tea-party....

 

 

I am hoping this winter gets off its butt and gets in gear....today it is really really cold....but there is no snow...we DID get snow last Monday...but then we got 3 inches of rain and it all went away...hopefully we will get a storm this Wednesday (we are supposed to anyway....). The kids had a great great time....Callum pulled his sister in the snow and they just had a blast. I was at school; I was actually surprised we didnt have a snow day..... 

 A smile that just brightens up my day....no matter what.....

 And again....Maira just smiles all the time...Merry Christmas everyone....I hope everyone has a great day.....tonight we will head to church at 7 for lessons and carols....then come back and get ready for Santa....