I've enjoyed 2006 more than any year in recent memory. Just infused with tons of fun, creative, enjoyable excursions mingling with the growing and absorbing nature of our two little guys.
And December really topped it off. Starting, I guess, with a nice Thanksgiving and a slow-moving decorating season, I've really had the joy of the holidays surround me. Mostly, I think, it's been having my family around so much. Can't beat it for a good time and good vibes.
Then there was the double-blizzard of 2006. Somewhat unbelievable, but it made for some fantastic outdoor adventures and even more great impression cemented in for long-term memory retrieval.
As I wrote my Dad the other day, I finally finished digging us out last night, and Max and I spent all day outside yesterday with our built-up snow ramp, riding his new snowboard. Then we went to the neighbor behind us (Mr. Extreme Sports Mr. Figgie) and Max went down his 5-foot high snowboard ramp and off a jump!
We received our special caramel treats from Gramps & Grams a while back and have been steadily working our way through them! Kathy will walk by me at night and surreptitiously hand me a caramel, she's the one who seems to crave them the most! We even hid them during our Christmas dinner with the family to make sure nobody accidentally snaked them all as in previous years :-)
The kids have been opening the windows on their little holiday advent calendars and grabbing out a bit of chocolate each morning and we're slow-cooking some bacon to take up with us to the mountains this weekend. Max also had a Lego advent calendar, 24 days of cool little lego bits to put together from an airport scene.
We're taking up to the mountains that big Christmas compendium book Gramps & Grams sent us a few years back. Jan Brett's Christmas Treasury with all of his illustrated nordic Christmas tales. Colorful, intricate, fantasy tales woven around the far North, with reindeer, cute little kids on adventures in the snow, little trolls and more. Each story told as much through the large illustrations combined on each side of the page with two smaller images that offer a side story to what's going on, which is fun to figure out. Max and I have been reading them the past few weeks, I love the illustrations, incredible!
This amazing book creates some wonderful, nostalgic Christmas-time feelings, finely matched by the glittering white Christmas weather we've had outside the home. Reading with a fire going, Christmas lights on, a light snow and reflected moonlight mist has been a timeless moment I won't soon forget.
Posted by BilFish at December 30, 2006 10:35 AM