a Hint of Winter

It's true, I may not be very artistic with my blogging, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I bought Maren a really nice digital SLR (that is short for "too expensive") camera about a year ago, so here I am posting a bunch of pictures taken with my cell phone camera. Makes sense, eh? I guess the problem is I am usually not at home on our desktop computer when I have a chance to blog. Someday you may get to experience the nice pictures our camera takes.

I am also braving new frontiers as I have decided to stretch my blogging skills and add a few bolded, highlighted, and enlarged words. It's something I've seen on my siblings' blogs. It's only an experiment for now, so we'll see what type of feedback I receive. Who knows? Maybe I will someday even do Italicized! The sky is the limit, or as a russian orthopedic surgeon recently told me, with heavy accent, "the sky is the ceiling, doctor."

The first picture is Lainie playing "Oh come all ye faithful" at the Pullins Christmas Party. It was part of the yearly "Progrum". It's a pretty big deal. She did a great job, especially since it took her about a week to learn it. Following that picture are a few pictures of the kids on a Horse-driven wagon ride through downtown Fenton. It was the annual "Jingle Fest", so we did that while Maren went to do some shopping. There was a Santa Claus in one of the tents they had set up, taking pictures with peoples animals and children. We were in a hurry to get the girls back for a date with Maren to go watch a Nutcracker ballet, so we couldn't stop, but I caught Lainie sizing him up. I have to say, his beard was looking as natural as a fur coat on a PETA ad, and he looked like he had just taken three ambiens; not exactly a jolly saint Nicholas, but definitely an OLD one.

Well, on the way home my (extremely intelligent and thoughtful) 6 year old said, "Dad, I know that Santa only comes on Christmas Eve when we are asleep, but that sometimes people dress up like him".

"oh? Why do you say that, Lainie?" I replied.

"Well, it's just something I've been thinking about everyday", she said.

I had to think fast, as we all often do, "I think it is really hard for Santa to be everywhere at once, so Santa has helper's who can tell him what you want for Christmas. But, sometimes the real Santa does come out and visit. Like, remember last year when we went to the mall and saw Santa, and he let you pull on his beard, and told you he loved you, and knew your names, and gave you hugs?"

"Yeah, I remember him."

"Well, that was the REAL Santa Claus."

I saw a HUMONGOUS smile from the rearview mirror as she said, "OH YEAH, he WAS the real Santa! Can we go and see him again??!"

Crisis averted. Thank you to all the Santas who make it easier for us to keep the magic alive.

This is my little buddy. I'm pretty grateful for him. We like to just hang out and do guy stuff while the girls are at ballets. Stuff like, watch "The Incredibles", build train tracks, and throw him through the air onto our soft bed.

Last Sunday, after arriving home from church, I fell asleep on our bed. I started out pretending to be asleep, playing with the girls, and it turned into the real thing. I rarely take Sunday naps, but this one must have been needed, and it felt really good. When I awoke, I found myself in a pile of stuffed animals and covered in the girls special blankets. They take good care of their dad and I just really love 'em. (photo courtesy of Maren :)