Saturday, December 31, 2011

holiday happiness

A quick run-down of our holiday festivities this year.

The boys sack out in front of the fire during our long-night observance. (We don't use electricity so the only light was from the fire and candles -- and the camera flash in this photo.)







The next night, lighting our Yule Log (complete with our wishes for the new year, which go up in smoke to the universe, or the gods, or the fates, or whatever it is that you happen to believe).





The boys and their friend Tree Elf in Santa's sleigh -- we go to visit Santa with Tree Elf every year, it's one of our favorite holiday traditions.









The kids in front of Santa's tree in his workshop.












The boys at The Map Man's parents' house on Christmas Eve.










Our tree on Christmas morning. Not only did the boys pick out our tree this year, but they were also completely responsible for decorating it. J made an origami angel for the top, and they decided not to use lights on the tree this year to conserve electricity.










The boys and their cousins at my parent's house on Christmas Day.







So we managed to survive another holiday season! This was a tough one, with my feeling fairly unable (and unmotivated) to do much more than absolutely necessary, but fortunately the boys chipped in and did quite a bit of the preparation and kept the spirit of the holidays alive around here.


Next year will bring a whole new set of challenges, with a toddler around....