We are pleased to report that we had yet another lovely Christmas season in our neck of the woods. Although our efforts to get the decorations up were hampered by Jonathan’s post-Thanksgiving appendectomy, before long we were looking for a tree. Feeling uncertain that we could repeat every year our 2006 feat of finding a U-cut tree for only $10, we decided to invest in a truly evergreen tree. (You know, a “fake” tree.) One thing we like about our tree is that it’s pre-lit with 1100 lights. This sounds like a lot of lights, and it is, but it actually looks about right on a 9 ft. tree. However, as we learned the day we bought the tree, our house’s wiring isn’t designed to have all of the kitchen and living rooms lights on while microwaving dinner while powering 1100 little Yuletide sparklers.

Continuing a long tradition, Jenelle made hundreds thousands of Christmas cookies (13 varieties of cookies, plus 1 drink, 1 truffle, 1 fruitcake) in what is locally known as the annual “cookiesplosion.”  Many of them went to lucky friends and neighbors.  If you didn’t get any, move closer to us next year.

On Christmas morning, we dressed Annika up and photographed her in a cute penguin costume that Jenelle found in a second-hand store.  It probably traumatized Annika, so she may not be looking forward to Christmas next year.

After opening presents and starting breakfast, a miracle occurred: snow began falling from the sky!  Although it never quite made the day a white Christmas, it was still a wonderful surprise.

You can see more of our Christmas pictures here.