I finally got the elusive Christmas card picture on Sunday. They're wearing all those elf hats I knitted since the summer.

It's been a goofy few days.

Sunday we decided to make our Christmas trip down to Norfolk, unannounced. My Dad wants us to visit him, and Kerry's parents and grandmother wanted us to come there, and since these trips are in two different directions, we thought it would be wise to space them out. The pictures were taken at his parents' house in their yard. They live on a mud pit within visual distance of the Lafayette River, so the kids were, of course, in the mud, taking apart the brick retaining rip rap whatever to make stepping stones.


Looking for the raccoons' house with Grandma.

Rutledge is always full of sticks and dirt.



I never have enough pictures of Ollie. We were loading up the digital picture frames we got for our parents and realized that Ollie is way under-represented. Probably because he always looks serious or sullen, if we get a picture of the front of him at all. I was practically chasing him with the camera trying to get a shot of him, but all I saw was the back of his head. I wonder if there's any deeper meaning to that....


Walter's always there, though. I don't have as many pictures of him as I do of Frances and Rutledge, who still spend a lot of time hamming for the camera, but he does stop for a minute to show me things or to make sure that his interests are recorded for all time.


Walter found snails that were just like the ones at Marty and Peter's river house. What's gross is that I think he brought them home in a cup, but I haven't seen them in the house yet, which means they're still in my van. Eww....

We ate at Cracker Barrel on the way home. I have to say, there's something that restaurant is doing right. My kids all love to go there and it has become our tradition whenever we are on a car trip anywhere. The store is what makes the experience. They used their Christmas money from Grandma to get some very exciting things: a kind of scary looking monkey with a flocked face; a light-up sword that makes clinking noises; an Elvis CD; a bell like you find to 'ring for service.' They have the best ornaments there, too--you always know you can find that perfect Elvis ornament there!

The bad news this week is that the next day, Frances woke up and threw up on my bed. And then numerous more times on a towel in front of her because she was too sick to move. Words can't really describe how much fear this strikes into my heart, especially at Christmas. We are supposed to have three other families over for dinner on Christmas day, and I don't want us to have to cancel. Nor do I want to have one of "those" Christmases that we've all heard about--the ones where Santa can't come because everyone is too sick to move from the bed or the children are too delirious with fevers and nausea to even care what day it is. Thankfully, Frances recovered very quickly and was back riding her bike and eating doughnuts today. And my house is very disinfected!

I'm so excited about Christmas, and for once, I'm feeling relatively prepared. I think Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year. I love it even more than Christmas. Here is my list of what I'd like to do tomorrow:

* Watch "It's a Wonderful Life."
* Watch "Scrooged"
* Watch "Miracle on 34th Street"
* Finish our Risk game
* Go bowling with friends
* Bake biscotti
* Bake cookies
* Repair our gingerbread houses
* Play a game that I think my kids are going to open as their Christmas Eve gift
* See some of the lights in our neighborhood, especially the award winners
* Go to the Christmas Eve service at church
* Finish the beaded snowman ornament Frances started three weeks ago
* Make the photo ornaments we didn't get to at our co-op
* Read to Frances