December already

Yin and Yang. Jack and Anthony before the big Thansgiving feast. Gerry kept calling Olivia "Stephanie", and she was getting ticked off, so I believe it was Grandpa that told her she wouldn't get in trouble if she gave him the Curtin Salute the next time he did it. The opportunity presented itself right in the middle of dinner. I think Gerry was more delighted than anybody that a six year-old in ringlets flipped him off. Here are some of the cousins showing Grandpa his favorite hand gesture:

Just keepin' it classy. The kids know that being with Grandpa, anything goes, but once we're back home, you know, there's rules and stuff.

And now it's December and we've started our holiday traditions. My least favorite is making the annual gingerbread house. I spend half the day making and rolling out dough and melting little candies into stained glass for the windows. This year wasn't too bad, though. It's supposed to be Rapunzel's Tower, but her hair got eaten or something.

While the kids were busy decorating, Mitch set up the Christmas tree. This year, he and Henry just brought one home, rather than all of us going up to the mountains and picking out a spindly, crappy tree and getting in fights and freezing our nuts off. Yay for new traditions!

And isn't it a beauty?

While I was off refilling my wine getting a glass of water, Jack took my spot on the couch where Mitch and I like to relax and watch the kids do all the work. Ha. Ha. So. Funny.

Saturday was the annual picture with Santa, and Jack was beyond thrilled to be a part of it.

I'm sorry I haven't written more. I've got carpal tunnel and basically have to type everything with my left hand right now. And I'm lazy.