After rearranging the furniture and making a place for the Christmas tree, it was time to start decking those halls with boughs of holly...and pine, juniper, etc. I was pleased to find ample evergreens and berries right in our own backyard to make wreaths and garlands for the house and to spruce up the faux ones still in rotation.
We have a smaller, tabletop tree again this year but it's full of childhood classic ornanaments and even a red-and-white paper chain garland. It's not our usual tree, but it's just right for a wide-eyed little boy with Santa on his mind. Luke has been pouring over his toy catalogs but is also making some connections that this is Jesus' birthday coming up and that is why we really celebrate. The mixed messages are everywhere, but we all keep muddling through them. I have even found myself resorting to the terrible cliche of "Luke, you know Santa is watching you...." when he's starting to act up or feeling uninclined to listen to me. So yes, you know the holiday season is full upon us.
I suppose I already had one of my big Christmas wishes granted when we awoke to about an inch of heavy, wet, wonderfully white snow last Saturday morning. It covered all the trees and houses beautifully and drew even the older children out early on a weekend morning for a quick snowball fight before the sun melted their fun away. Luke and Ben got in on the action, landing a few good shots on the neighbor girl and her brother, and then we went out for doughnuts in our PJs and boots----a pretty wonderful morning whether you are two or twenty-something. I'd love to see some more snow this holiday, but if I don't we at least had a great start to the Christmas season with snow in the first week of December.
We took Luke to see the Holiday Express displays at the UT Univerity Gardens this past Saturday. With more than 100 model buildings and 10+ trains running, it was a little boy's Christmas dream. The bigger boys, Ben included, were pretty smitten with the collection, too. Two engineers ran all the trains in concert with twinkling lights, a waterfall feature, and Christmas music. Ben's favorite train was the Pennsylvania passenger train, while look prefered the green Southren engine---he said he was going to drive that one when he grew up.
The collection was entirely owned by one of the engineers, who built nearly all the structures and builidings himself. He said it had taken him nearly 25 years to collect and build it all. He had unique trains with fish-tank cars (quite a ride for little goldfish), a miniature carnival with ferris wheel and teacup rides, and a working sawmill. The attention to detail was amazing and none of it was wasted on all the starry-eyed children and families who attended. Enjoy the photos!
