Holiday Roundup

Since welcoming our newest addition, Small Bear (online alias - not his real name), we have enjoyed a laid-back and unambitious holiday season.

Before kids I thought keeping plants alive was a challenge! So it's no surprise that parenting two small humans is completely exhausting. And we're not even out-numbered.

Amazingly, decorating and putting up a tree actually made the agenda. Three of us sat around and snacked while one person did most of the work.

With the new arrival, Grandma and Grandpa jumped at the opportunity for a pre-Christmas visit to help out - and they were extremely helpful and appreciated. We ate their meals for a week afterward!

Grandma wowed Tiger Cub with her cupcake baking skills. TC made a point of licking icing off as many cupcakes as possible.

Grandma and the two little munchkins.

With a 3-week old Small Bear in tow, we made our 3rd annual visit to Macy's Santaland. Since we're fairly experienced and also not tourists, we knew how to do things right and arrived early on a Monday morning to avoid the crowds and chaos.

Santaland never disappoints (as long as you go first thing on a weekday).

Tiger Cub particularly loved the trains and nutcrackers. Meeting Santa went pretty well too. 

Pop Doc also visited from Georgia and came bearing gifts, which TC was pretty into. He did his share of baby holding and toddler wrangling during his visit.

Small Bear hit the one month mark! Yes, time really does fly.

Tiger Cub brought home a respiratory virus and was nice enough to share it with his little bro and his parents the week of Christmas (and we're still recovering). Brothers who get sick together stick together? We have each succumbed to the illness one by one, staggered so that the virus has stayed alive in our home for as long as possible. Luckily we had zero plans for Christmas and no visitors to infect.

This family outing to Christmas Eve service, our only excursion to anywhere besides the pediatrician's office for over a week, was made possible by naps and Tylenol. And somehow we scored one of our best family pics of the year.

We put on sick but happy faces for Christmas day. Here's our Xmas morning breakfast group selfie shot.

Tiger Cub got everything he wanted, meaning more train tracks and train accessories. At 2 years and 10 months old, his desires are uncomplicated and easy to satisfy.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family!