For some reason, my best friend Serena and I decided that  a picture of ourselves sitting on Santa's lap would be a fabulous Christmas present for our moms.  We were around 14 at the time, and I haven't seen the picture in years, until this morning, when she decided to send me a copy. So we hurried off to the mall to have one done.  Looking at the expression on Santa's face here, I think it's safe to say he needed several years of therapy after this picture was taken.  As for me, it was nice to start the day with a big laugh :)

Good News!

Christmas came early this year!  So stop all that crazy shopping already!  What, you didn't know Christmas is here already?  Just take a look at my son's advent calendar then!

That'll teach me not to get the kind with chocolate in it!

I have said it so many times.  My son's whole life is soccer.  Every day.  Soccer.  Every week of the year.  Soccer.  Weekends, mornings, nights.  Soccer.  Indoor, outdoor, winter, fall, spring, summer camps, tournaments and training.  Soccer the Brazilian Way, Coerver method, Dutch 4x4.  That kid eats, drinks and sleeps soccer. And now I have proof!

One year when my oldest kids were 5 and my middle kids were 2 and the little boys had not yet come along, we spent several hours decorating our Christmas tree.  (As I mentioned in an earlier post, Devin did her decorating au naturale).  Although the younger girls were very haphazard with their ornament placement, the older kids spent a really long time finding just the right place to put each ornament. They grouped the snowflakes together. They hid the nutcrackers to try to challenge visitors to find them.  They designated each side of the tree to showcase each child's homemade creations.  Then I had to take several pictures of the masterpiece.  The next morning we were all stumbling down the stairs around 5:30. (Remember that early riser son of mine!)  As usual, my eyes were mostly closed. As we get to the bottom of the stairs my son lets out a wail.  "Oh no!  Somebody ruined the tree.  The ornaments are off!" And the tears began.  So I launched into a long, drawn out explanation of how, during the night, branches shift and sometimes an ornament or two will slip off and all you have to do is put it right back on.  And although it is a little upsetting, it isn't a big deal and it is even fun to fix up the ones that fall off.  At this point I look over at the tree and see that from the bottom, up to about 3 feet, there is not one single ornament.  It's bare.  Apparently, Devin got up in the middle of the night, wandered downstairs, and UNdecorated the tree, and then carefully stacked all the ornaments up on the couch.  I should have taken pictures, but hey, it WAS 5:30 in the morning.  And that wasn't her only night-time ramble.  But that's a story for another day.  Or several days.