Merry Christmas, Y'all

Check it out! It's the Wyckoff family version of a Christmas Miracle!

It took the endless patience that only someone like Diane has to get one halfway decent Christmas family photo of the four of us. But we got one! Woohoo!

The children's Christmas Eve service at our church had just concluded, so the boys were rarin' to go. Poor David's still at the church, preparing to sing in the 5 p.m. candlelight service. A service that will be full of nice, quiet adults and youth who can sit in their seats and hold live flames. I know....I can't completely grasp it, either. It sounds like a fairy tale. 

The boys and I are fixing to go drive around look at Christmas lights while David sings. We started doing this the year that William had strep throat--we just piled in the car and drove around to look at lights while listening to Christmas music. And um, eating chicken fingers. (Look, if we're eating, we're all happy.) Hmmm, where's the best place around here to get some chicken fingers?

Hope that you have a merry and meaningful Christmas this year. 

Now with extra festive!

Can't get enough of the holiday cheer, can I?



This was taken at the Dickens of a Christmas festival in Franklin. It was probably the best picture I took all day. I may have to make some Christmas cards after all...

We are festive!

I got the obligatory visit-to-see-Santa out of the way early this holiday season, which was a good thing because Thanksgiving was late, and I feel like we're trying to jam-pack everything into a much smaller window of time. Probably because we are. Even though I've deliberately tried to curate our obligatory holiday cheer into manageable chunks, it still takes time to be festive, you know. 

Festive with Santa!

William asked Santa for a Disney Infinity video game thing. Andrew asked for--and I quote--"surprises." When asked about his response later, he said that he'd just like some surprises that he's never gotten before. Done and done. God, I love him. Thank you, my dear younger son, for making this holiday easy on your weary old mom and dad. This means we can get him anything, and it will satisfy his criteria. 

What other holiday frivolity have we indulged in thus far, you might ask? Well, let's see. Mom, Diane and I took the boys to Franklin for the Dickens of a Christmas festival last Saturday. Very fun. Very crowded, but very fun. William and Andrew sampled pickles, crawled on Civil War cannons, listened to handbells, and were, yes, festive. I took Andrew to the Walk Through Bethlehem event at Woodmont  Christian Church on Sunday afternoon. And we decorated a gingerbread house a couple of weeks ago. We just need to make some cookies now. Cookies TBD. 

Both boys have class parties this Friday, and then they'll be out of school for the two-week (ish) break. Maybe I can whip up some more holiday-themed activities during that time. Suggestions and recommendations are welcome.  

More festive! For reals! Mom didn't even have to
threaten or cajole to get this level of festivity!