What I Did on My Christmas Vacation

How is it that it takes months to add and then cross off gifts from lists, weeks to prepare, and days to pack, and then it's over in the blink of an eye? There and back again in two minutes, it seems.

We had a fabulous trip home, managing to shoehorn in as many family and friends into four days as we possibly could while still remembering everyone's name. We ate ridiculous amounts of food (which is entirely not our fault since all of our various hosts fed us insanely well). And as usual, we were showered with gifts and love and snuggles and warmth - thanks to all who loved us up so thoroughly!

Our gift to the kids before we left - a candy-making factory. Who knew sour gummy candies were made entirely of gelatin and citric acid?

Watermelon-flavoured nastiness in molds of various shapes.

The standard plethora of gifts.

Meeting a new friend for the first time.

Taking credit for a group effort (while the other candy architects take some time off from a punching game gone awry)

Reading (reading!!) his new chapter book to great grandpa.

Relaxing with (what else?) Pokemon colouring pages.

Playing a new dance game with the cousins (warning: not for adults - my elbows are *still* feeling my overzealous Mashed Potato)

And...the unpacking back at home. The Husband wins a gold star for getting all of this and more into the trunk of the Jetta. And I get a gold star for sitting for eight hours wedged into the front seat with the stuff that didn't fit in the trunk.