Christmas time

The holiday season has become so much more interesting, now that the boys are older.  They still aren't completely greedy about gifts... yet.  Drake had no idea what to ask Santa to bring him.  Flynn knew, without hesitation.  Taking them shopping was far less painful this year than in years past.  Flynn went with Dad and I on our Black Friday zero-dark-thirty ritual.  He was quite a trooper and knew exactly what he wanted to buy for Daddy and Drake.  (He also fell asleep at 3:30 pm and slept until the next morning.)  Drake is still learning that gift giving is about the other person.  The stuff he wanted to buy Tim and Flynn- let's just say Mommy has veto power.

One of the differences in having a child attend Catholic school is he/she learns about St. Nickolaus and his feast day.  The kids decorate shoes and get treats.  We (as a family) also went to Bruno's to celebrate.  (Mmmm... schnitzel....)  On the way, Drake told me that Santa Claus is St. Nickolaus's helper.  Sure.  OK.  We'll go with that.  Not sure how he pieced that together, but it works for me.

We took the boys to Fantasy Lights.  It's like ZooLights, only you stay in your car and drive around the see the displays.  As we pulled into the park, Flynn says, "Ooooo... it's so beau-ti-ful!"  This was the most they both have been into the displays.  Such a fun time.

We aren't stressing about the season too much.  We have enough to stress about, so we have no intention of having something within our control freak us out.  If we do it, we do it.  If not, oh well.  This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, if you believe everything you hear in song lyrics.  Might as well keep it that way.  :)