Letters From Home, Volume 3

This has been a unique Christmas Season for our family. As I mentioned in my reasons for a simplified Christmas this year, we drove to Orlando, Florida for a seminar Jeremy was attending, and were gone for 11 days at the beginning of the month. Coming home with just 12 days left to be ready for Christmas — minus 3 days recovering from the stomach flu which hit us on the way home — means Christmas has been even more simply elegant than I’d planned!

Yet I find myself reveling in the calm of a shortened to-do list, sighing in the peacefulness of a simplified schedule. Our celebration of the season has consisted of the daily reading of our Advent book (with all three kids taking turns opening the doors this year!), my tradition of 12 days of gifts for my true love, and a shortened list of Christmas Baking. Which is what the photos in this post illustrate…

Can you tell the girl child is so very excited about cookie decorating?

Everyone has their helping stools pushed close to the kitchen island while mommy finishes mixing the icing.

Mommy scowls in concentration while spreading a sample smear on a sample cookie. Seth presumes this is all for him and begins rooting in excitment.

Thanks to Daddy’s deeper reservoir of patience, Seth is permitted to help decorate.

In his 16 month-old-brain, this is also permission to lick, pick and eat!

Thankfully, Daddy understands his boy, and Seth was permitted to eat his cookie as soon as he finished decorating it!

Of course, this spawned the idea that all the cookies were there for Seth’s express enjoyment. Soon after this photo he was whisked off to the bath while his more mature brother and sister continued decorating.

Please note: The red nose is washable marker. It was all his idea. He was being Rudolph, dontchaknow. Oh, look – it’s our Christmas tree in the background! Let’s look closer…