I know I’m really late to the party on this discovery, but Christmas is way fun when you have little kids.  Okay, so the hubby and I — erm, Santa — had to stay up really late in the “workshop” assembling all the gifts, stumbling into bed only to be woken up a few hours later (4:45 am, in fact) by the sound of a wailing Gravy Baby wondering if maybe Santa had forgotten to come to our house and could he puh-lease check right this instant?!  We told him that Santa only makes deliveries available after 6:00 am, but what basically resulted was an hour and 15 minutes of four people laying in bed, wide awake and gazing at the ceiling. Still, that feverish anticipation was worth every second.

^^ our Southern boy and his pickup truck.  also, a minivan tent ^^

^^ christmas eats: a chocolate peppermint loaf cake serves double duty for the hubby’s birthday, and we had a festive tomato/avocado/sausage breakfast casserole after the presents were opened ^^

^^ collecting “christmas tree scraps” for “work” in the garden ^^