freeze . . .

I want to freeze time right now. Literally . . . like right this day and hour. The sweet anticipation of two weeks off from school, lots of fun parties under our belt but lots still to go to, the "big day" still 5 sleeps away. I am so excited for it all, but don't want it to start, because then it will all be over. We've been taking advantage of every possible moment to par-tay, be with family and celebrate the season . . .

This is the closest Grace would get to Santa this year . . . we went to the school Christmas program last Friday and afterwards Uncle Clay tried to get Grace to sit on Santa's lap. Sorry friends . . . you kids almost didn't get presents from Santa this year, because Grace was about 2 inches from kung-fu karate-chopping him in the head . . .

Just a funny Grace picture from last Saturday morning . . . Jen and I took the kids to Stoney Ridge Farm to visit Moses the camel and the live nativity . . . too bad no one told us they were sold out of trees and were closed. Thursday night we went to Mom's to bake cookies . . . good thing Grandma wasn't being stingy with her sprinkles . . . Notice Jen and Tom passing some sort drink concoction back and forth . . . Jake's turn to decorate!Grace's turn . . . Tom was manning the Spritz gun . . . Grace is still shake-shake-shaking . . . and the container is almost empty, so why quit now? Onto rolling some dough . . . Mr. Spritz is still working away . . . Grandma takes Grace into the dining room where she has all of her nativities set up and Grace kisses all the baby Jesus's . . . I promise she didn't eat him . . . Friday night we drove through the James Street Christmas lights, went to dinner and FINISHED our Christmas shopping . . .Saturday morning was Lefse and Fatigman baking day at Grandma Larson's . . . Grandpa getting the first bit of Lefse . . . Grace wasn't too far behind . . . she LOVED the Lefse. Jen always takes "minutes" of our day . . . Grace was helping here. Thank you sister for not giving me a BLACK X because we were late!Last night we celebrated the Winter Solstice up at the Lagerwey's . . . in the summer we yell, "Oh shit, the days are getting shorter", in the winter we yell "Hell yes, the days are getting longer!" The kids loved playing the piano . . . A quick trip out to the barn to visit the horses . . .

But mostly to see what these guys were up to . . . a family beer pong tournament in the barn . . . what else would you expect from a Jones celebration?

We're off to Mom and Dad's this afternoon to celebrate our family Christmas . . . woo hoo! Hope you are enjoying the season as much as we are.