Christmas Eve Eve Was the MERRIEST!

The gingerbread house!  WORKED!  And the kids had the best time decorating it! (these are from Christmas Eve Eve Eve)

 And then!  We shared a blanket and watched Elf, my favorite favorite.

 How cute is this??

 Oh yes!  We also recorded a Christmas Eve Eve episode of POTY. As always, you can listen on our website or on iTunes.

 We rounded everyone up and went to an Ugly Sweater holiday skate.

 (Harry was too cool for costumes)

 All in!

 My teeth are crazy white on the ice.  Good thing we are constantly in a rink these days.

 He's so fast and fearless!

 This was not the best idea

 I like to decorate gingerbread people to feel like I feel.

 J/K.  Who could be frowny or agape when it's this cozy? (Diehard, the best Christmas movie, on TV)

 Jeez, if only we baked a few things.

The Little Day of Hygge **without the xenophobic nationalism**

Pajamas all day.  Blankets and pillow and movies on the couch.  Candles burning.  A little gift wrapping (DONE-ZO!!)  Cookies for Santa and a from-scratch gingerbread house (our first one, and we're not done yet.  I'll update you tomorrow, so STAY TUNED).  In short, an excellent first day of winter break for all.

Also, shout out to The Girl Next Door podcast for the yarn on presents suggestion, and to By the Book (if you are not listening to this podcast, you really need to be) for reminding me about hygge in the first place.

School parties

Oh, the school parties.

Junior high is too cool for parties, obvs, so we just sent a bunch of donuts in and called it a day.

Dorothy had her party at school with no helpers needed-- we just had to send cookie stuff.

But!  Fourth grade had a pancake breakfast, for which I cooked and served SIX DOZEN eggs, and kindergarten had a cookie party that I organized and baked for and led.  And both were an absolute delight.

That's a lot of eggs, by the way.

 OMG.  Speaking of holiday tasks.  SO MANY PRESENTS TO WRAP.

 Ben was a huge helper in kindergarten, obvi

 Marshmallow snow man-- surprisingly big hit.

 Dorothy LOVED being a pretend kindergartener.  She even got to do circle time, where she sang Jingle Bells solo.

 Ben read The Book With No Pictures, and the audience HOWLED.

 You bet a wore an apron to the pancake breakfast.  So much syrup.

Eight Crazy Nights: Night 8

Water Park Night

I think my favorite part of this night was that we had points and all we ended up paying for was pizza.  I'M THE WORST.

Harry had pajama day yesterday, which, of course, begged the question HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER DAY?!

 Scary.

 Gingerbread house, here we come!

 Shopping for Beatrix, buying our LAST PRESENT of the holiday season.

 Yay!

 Kicking it in their hotel room eating junk food after school.

 We are faking our excitement.

 She was soooooo ready

 Wristbands unite!

 hahahahaha

 Water slide!

 Wading!

 Jumping!

 More slide!

Poolside pizza!

We slept at home, but then we came back!  For breakfast!

Smell you next year, Hanukkah!