The Pickles

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Christmas wrap-up

So here are a couple more shots of our Christmas season, beginning with St. Nicholas' day earlier in December:

*ripriptearshred*

The babies always get something in their stockings too.

ooooooo....

om nom nom

Andy got lacing boards

The baby also got a Christmas outfit:

"Kiss Me: No Mistletoe Required"

we obey this injunction regularly -- who wouldn't, with that face?

Katie was exceptionally creative this Advent. She made her own Advent calendar:

We now have so many Advent-y things that we couldn't even keep up with them all. There were still several doors on the Advent calendars unopened by Christmas Eve, and we regularly removed big chunks of the Advent chain at a time. No one felt gipped, though -- we were religious in our observance of taking turns blowing out the Advent candles.

We tried to spread the decorating out over different days in Advent, but ended up doing most of it right before Christmas (and even some right after). That's okay -- everything got done eventually.

Andy is old enough to help decorate the tree now, too -- although he spent most of the time playing with the vehicle ornaments. :)

All gussied up for Christmas Eve Mass! (We chickened out again regarding Midnight Mass -- one of these years we'll get back to it.) Notice all the short sleeves -- it was ROASTING. (and by "roasting" I mean 70s -- I was tempted to turn on the A/C while I was baking but REFUSED -- it was the middle of December for Pete's sake! It's a Matter of Principle!)

Dominic is wondering why he isn't in bed Right Now.

As you can see, Grandma stayed with us! She came a couple days before Christmas and stayed until the day after New Year's. It was a delight to have her with us. She is very good at just fitting herself in to the family dynamic and jumping in wherever help is needed. She was a real blessing to us, but most importantly just plain fun to have around. Holidays are always better with extra family to share them with. (I'll bet she was glad to get back to her nice, quiet house afterwards, though!)

We had lots of fun celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas -- it was a great way to spread out the fun. Now, to finish Christmas cards! Hey, we technically have until Feb. 2 to get them out, right?

Peace to you and yours,
the Pickles

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

On the nth day of Christmas...

Okay so the rest of the days weren't as exciting, so we don't have any fun pictures to post. But briefly, here's what we did:

On the ninth day of Christmas Grandma had to fly back home. :( And then because it was Saturday, we had to do stinky rotten chores. Booooooriiiiiiiing. (But the house was clean!)

On the tenth day of Christmas it was more fun -- our parish had Sunday Social after Mass, so we got free donuts and coffee. Score! And then a good friend was celebrating a birthday so we partied in the afternoon.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, it was BACK TO SCHOOL. Blarg. However, I only made everyone do two subjects, and then they got to play video games after piano lessons, so the day wasn't a total loss.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the girls went ice skating again with some friends. And then I attended the wake for a dear friend who died last week. It is so bittersweet to experience a loss at this time of year. Any loss is always sad, but at the turning of the year our thoughts are filled with hope; our attention is constantly drawn to our Infant Lord in the manger, and the reason He came among us: to die for our sake, so that we might one day be with Him and all our loved ones.

Giotto knew mothers and babies -- look at that intense gaze

Aye and therefore be merry, set sorrow aside,
Christ Jesus, our Savior, was born on this tide.

Friday, January 01, 2016

On the eighth day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me:

a Happy New Year!

paper crown courtesy of Christmas crackers

the rule is that you couldn't eat any of the gingerbread house unless you're wearing a crown

...aaaand a decimated gingerbread house!

for comparison: Before...

...and After!

It was good, too -- still soft enough that you didn't need to use your back teeth to bite it! At first I was afraid the roof would collapse overnight, but it held!

We also took Grandma to visit the Basilica in DC. I can't believe we'd never brought her before! While she and Mr. Pickles toured the upper church, I took the rest of the crew to see the crypt. Everything was decorated for Christmas, and it was just lovely.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

On the seventh day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me:

a Gingerbread Mesterpiece!

target acquired (Mr. Pickles executed design and baking, Miriam assisted with caulking)

fire away! (Katie's goal: to get as much frosting actually on the candy as she had on her fingers)

direct hit! (Miriam and Mr. Pickles' allergy-free side on left, along with Katie's design on right)

Mom's roof, with Andy's help

the boys' glorious homage to abstract sugar-laden art

ba ha haaa! I love candyyyyyyy!

Time to Destruction: t minus one day

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

On the sixth day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me:

Brain Rot via video games!

good ol' Santa installed Minecraft on the Wii U

We forced them to have recess occasionally, too, to make sure the new bike and scooter got used.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

On the fifth day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me:

Ice Skating!

the Kettler's ice rink (home of the Washington Capitals, woot woot!) was packed!

Daniel's hands were so sweaty it was hard ramming his fist back into the glove

shortly after this shot Daniel & I had a spectacular fall wherein someone's skate scratched his back (not sure whose) and I somehow wrenched my thumb. but we survived!