Christmas Catch Up

While Charlotte enjoyed a white Christmas, we've enjoyed mostly balmy weather in Florida for the past week. I can't say any of us were sad that it didn't snow here! Here are some pictures from Christmas.

We had just returned from a 1.5-hour Christmas Eve service, and the kids were being bribed with Christmas cookies to pose for pictures.

The girl squad, and a dinosaur, seated for Christmas dinner. Josh still refuses to have anything to do with the gaggle of little girls, so he got a seat at the adult table this year.

Before Christmas, Emily and Randy graciously hosted our annual Christmas dinner at their house. We added cookie decorating with the kids to our annual traditions--kids and adults enjoyed making and eating the cookies!


We met my cousin Shannon and her family at Dinosaur World in Plant City, Fla., today. The park is home to 150 life-size dinosaur models, which include a whole section of dinosaurs eating and disemboweling each other.

Molly and Allie uncovering stegosaurus bones

Josh and his Dinosaur World-appropriate sweat shirt

Tutus and Tights

I took Molly to an abbreviated version of The Nutcracker today, thinking she might enjoy seeing some real ballerinas. She decided that all of the dancers must be princesses, except for the male dancer who played the role of the prince. When he came on stage, Molly yelled out, "Mommy, why is that man wearing tights?"

I couldn't think of a good answer at the time.

We met the Sugar Plum Fairy after the show, and Molly got to walk around on the stage. I'm not sure if she was inspired to dance more, but it was a fun afternoon!

Is my daughter always this skilled?

Today was a special day at Molly's dance class, as parents were allowed to sit in the class and take pictures and video to their hearts' content. We clearly did not get the memo that today was the day to wear your brightest and biggest tutu.

The girls did a few tap dances, including one choreographed to Christmas music that involved a move called the "boogie woogie." I'll only say that Molly tried hard and seemed to have a lot of fun. She's very good at jumping, but her future as a dancer is yet to be determined!

One mom, however, already seemed to be mapping out her 3 year old's artistic future. As we were leaving class, I overhead the mom ask the dance teacher, in all seriousness, "Is my daughter always this skilled?" The dance teacher didn't understand what she was asking, so the mom clarified that her daughter was clearly so great at dancing that she was considering enrolling her in gymnastics too. The teacher quickly recovered from her surprise over the question and assured the mom that her daughter was indeed amazing.

I'm not sure which of the little dancers was our prima ballerina-to-be, as they all seemed pretty awkward and uncoordinated at times. I was just glad that Molly only tripped twice during the class and came home with no injuries!

Santa: Back on the good list

We have taken a 2-year break from Santa after our traumatic Santa encounter in 2008 at the botanical gardens. Here's a refresher:

Emily and I took our kids to a Christmas event today at the children's library, but unfortunately the line was way too long for us to wait with four kids for "shopping with elves." Instead, we headed for the much shorter line for Santa pictures, with some hesitation. Thankfully Molly seems to have forgotten her previous distaste for Santa, and she hopped right into this kindly man's lap.

It probably helped that I told the kids I would take them out for pizza if they were nice to Santa and smiled at the camera. Molly told Santa she wanted a butterfly and a zebra, and Josh wants a light saber.

Waiting in line, deciding if he's going to be naughty or nice