I'm a parent, for real.

My parents are in town, and I (we) have been busy. Hence no blogging (which is a pretty common occurrence around these parts since our summer sojourn). Prior to my parents arrival, we managed to finish our holiday preparations (after much grief from Grace: "MOM, everyone else already has their christmas tree!"). We outdid ourselves this year: 11 feet of balsam goodness. I'm still amazed that Craig and I managed to get this beast into the stand by ourselves. It almost didn't fit.



Both girls were sick the night we put up the tree and got into jammies early. They did rouse themselves for dancing with the tree skirt.





Up next was a trip to the library to meet the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. This was one of those events that seemed like a good idea, but in reality meant waiting too long for a decrepit mouse to hobble into the room. It didn't even tap it's toe to the mouse song. The girls seemed unfazed by the poor performance, which, I suppose, is what matters.



And then we had the whirl of Grace's Christmas concert, Julia's Christmas Pageant, and Grace's Christmas party (all in one morning). For some reason, while watching Julia and her classmates perform Christmas carols, I was struck with the thought: I'm really a parent. I know I'm a mom, but do you ever have those moments where your life comes into crystal clear focus? Julia singing about angels did this to me.



I hope your holiday preparations and celebrations are filling you with joy. If not, email me, and I'll send you the video of Julia singing Feliz Navidad (while picking her nose). Merry Christmas, indeed.