Chistmas, Christmas Time is Here (and Gone...)

Okay, so I'm already slacking off after my "I'm going to do better at blogging" resolution.  But hey, it was the holidays.  Speaking of which, here are a few highlights from the last month or so (please excuse my poor photography skills):

So we have a big pre-lit fake because I don't like dealing with the watering, the needles everywhere, and the waste of a real tree.  We've had it for a couple years and it's pretty easy to set up.  So there I was, throwing the tree together without a care in the world,

when I got to the 2nd to last section and it scraped the ceiling.  Wha??

Oh, yeah, we had vaulted ceilings in our last house and our rental does not. 

Did I think of this before setting up the tree?  No. 

So first I tried skipping the 2nd to last section and just using the top...

Funny, but not too stable.  Hence:

Yep, it's our gimpy tree. I kinda liked it.

Will the problem be solved next year when we're in our house?

Of course not, because we're not vaulting the ceilings. -Sigh-

Moving on...

Since my dad got to check into the hospital on Dec. 15th for his extended stay,

we did a Christmas celebration the Sunday before.

Nothing says Christmas like ham carved by a crazy guy wearing blue latex gloves.

Christmas day we did the usual rounds: stockings and stuff at home, Jim's parents' for breakfast,

my family for lunch, and back to Jim's parents' for dinner. 

"Sadly", the annual karaoke sing-off at Hills' was postponed
because the karaoke machine had been lent out.

I somehow managed to contain my grief.

Sam had a blast and properly rejoiced over every gift

  

In between breakfast and lunch we added an extra stop down

to LDS Hospital to see Chemo-sabe (my dad)

Not the most cheery place for someone to be on Christmas,

but it was a couple days before he started feeling too crappy so we got a little bit of celebrating in.

You can just see the corner of the "Christmas Story" leg lamp stocking I hung on his IV tree.

(On a side note, anyone looking for gifts ideas for me--I totally want one for myself.)

Sam got a snowman kit from her Grandma, so on New Year's Eve she and Jim tested it out.

It was a fun season, and now I'm ready to settle down for long winter full of cocoa, baked goods, hearty warm meals, and, most importantly, lots of reading!