the most wonderful time

Merry Christmas Break Part 1

 Halfway through my Christmas break time slows down.  These are literally the darkest days of the year.  All the events leading up to Christmas seem to rush by and all my planning to be creative gets unplanned.  But we have lots of fun and I'm not complaining about any of it.  

 Blue and Violet had their Christmas things at school.  Violet had a solo and she sang loud and wonderfully.  She's the adorable one in the red dress.

 Blue managed to look unhappy and uncomfortable during his class's performance...but not as unhappy as the girl beside him.  I'm not sure what was wrong but she looked sad the entire time.  I made a funny face at Blue and he scowled even harder.  Maybe he was focused on going on Christmas break in about 20 minutes.

 Spartanburg has their Main Street ice skating rink open again this year.  Blue was wobbly at first and clung to the wall but soon he was racing me and doing accidental tricks.

 Violet was even more unsteady but she did take a few breaks from the stand so she could practice her ballet moves.

 And then this weird snowman showed up and took awkward photos with a few kids.  

 Zeke and I did a little hiking and we found this tree the beavers had been working on.

 Tiki is always on Christmas break.  A tough day for her is only stealing 5 Cheetos between her two 12 hour naps.  Clearly having us around more often is annoying her.

 The McAbee party had the annual Bingo game and the musical present opening game.

 Santa came in his gym shoes again.  He had a busy day and came straight from his workout.

 We don't really get that into Christmas lights.  Don't get me wrong, they're pretty and festive, but do I want to drive 45 minutes or wait in traffic or pay to see them?  Nope.  But since we were in the area, we drove by the Foster's place in Inman.  This place has been awesome at Christmas since we were kids.  And it's free with no waiting.

 There's a tiny horizontal black line between the trees.  It's a hawk but you'll have to take my word for it.  They're fast and skiddish and I can never get a good photo of them with the phone.  This guy was perched at mom's and he was one of many I've seen in the last two weeks.  One day I saw 4 before lunch.  Another day I saw 9.  I'm apparently supposed to keep drawing them.

 On the shortest day of the year, this lady has a birthday.  LJ turned 79 this year.  I hope you don't mind me telling people how old you are, LJ.  You look better than some of the people I went to high school with, so I think it's ok.  

 The kids made a gingerbread house.  Seconds later they completely destroyed the gingerbread house.

 Then there was Christmas Eve at Nana's.

 ...complete with lots of gifts.

 Followed by Christmas Eve at Great Grandma's complete with a whoopee cushion.

 And then it was time for Santa.

 Violet got an easel and lots of cool girl things.

 And Blue fell out when he saw his stash of Christmas loot.

 He's a tad dramatic but this is the quintessential kid Christmas face.  

 Then it was on to Christmas brunch and presents at Grandma's.  She cooked a breakfast feast and then all the grandkids gathered in one room to open gifts.  There were so many kids a panoramic photo was the only way to get them all in.

 I don't think we have any Christmas afternoon traditions other than a good food induced nap.  But this year we ventured out to the local Waffle House and stuffed even more food in our faces.

Along with some cool running accessories, G got me a super cool professional waffle maker.  It's only been a couple of days but it's already changed our lives.