Last year we started a great tradition of doing a winter picnic around Christmas day.  It was all based on Nanna getting us a wonderful book called the Night Tree.  In the book a family travels just outside of town and decorates a tree with ornaments that can be eaten by animals.

For the second year we went to our night tree, a little spruce just off the path at Coggshall Park, and decorated.  Bianca apparently thought it was a sequoia because we had enough ornaments and popcorn to hang on every needle, let alone every branch.  Mother Nature was also quite cooperative, as the weather was perfect--45 degrees.  That's cold enough for hot chocolate, but not so cold your fingers freeze.

All in all it was spectacular day, though Nanna and P-Pa were certain missed.  Next year we'll have twice as many people at our night tree!

Isaac and Bianca have lovely conversations in bed right before he falls asleep.  Tonight was one that almost caused me to have a heart attack from laughing so hard. 

Bianca reads Isaac Polar Express and at the end of the story there is a part about the Christmas Bell and still believing.  Isaac is so firmly entrenched in the Santa camp that it is not about believing in Santa.  That is, for him, an a priori given.  Instead, he thinks it means that he believes he is getting presents. 

So tonight when Bianca asked him if he believed he told her he wasn't sure.  He paused for a moment, got very serious and told her: "I am not sure Mommy.  I just need Christmas to get here.  What if I was a bad boy and Santa brings me mud?"  Bianca assured him that mud was not in his future, but his stress only abated slightly.  He then closed his eyes and steepled his hands.  Bianca asked was him what he was doing and he told her "praying."  She asked to who and he said "God."  Then she asked if this was about presents and he confirmed that it was.  He told her was praying to God that Santa would bring him presents.  

For those at home, this is DEFINITELY a Bianca trait.  I was not a stress case like this when I was a kid.  I'd lose my mind if Stormshadow lost his nunchucks, but I was not self aware enough to experience this kind of doubt. 

Hang in there buddy.  Only about 36 hours left.  No mud for you, promise. 

With Baby K's arrival expected around Christmas, we had to shake things up and do Christmas with Nanna and P-Pa early this year.  I'll have to slip my first niece a $20 as this also meant that I got to see my parents on my birthday for the first time in seven years.  I love when the come for Christmas, so it is a trade off I am willing to make, but there is nothing like seeing your folks on your birthday.

Schedule shift be damned, though because we had Christmas early.  It was pretty awesome for me because I got presents two days in a row, but it was also nice because we still got to exchange gifts with Nanna and P-Pa in person.

Nanna and P-Pa got in on Thursday night around midnight, so I-man was already asleep, but at the very first moment his eyes opened Friday morning he pounced on them asleep in the guest bedroom (now, Pistachio's room--all the furniture was removed).  I was off to work, but as I left they were all three still in their pajamas.  As it would turn out Isaac remained in his PJs well into the afternoon.  They took a long slow walk down to the Dutch Kitchen and that was when he finally got dressed.

That evening I came home and we celebrated my birthday.  It was a great meal--pasta, of course--and even better company.  Isaac was very excited to try some "rollies" which is what he thought we were all saying when he said "cannolis".  It makes sense, they do kind of look rolled up.  After that I opened presents and I got a bunch of nice stuff.  I got a PS4 and TWO controllers, hint hint, plus the Lego Marvel game which is suitable for an I-man aged kid, hint hint.  I also got a game for me, the Guiness Book of Records, and one of the robots from Pacific Rim from the Naps.  I also got, well, this from Bianca and Isaac:

The next day we hung out, got a Christmas tree from Tiny's (it was too rainy to cut our own), and then we put up the tree:


P-Pa and I ran some errands and while we were out and about, P-Pa tricked me.  We went to a local hardware place and he bought me a new saw.  Its not just any saw, its an amazing Festool Kapex--a saw that can do all kinds of things I didn't have the capacity to do before.  I picked it up the following Saturday:

It was a GREAT surprise, like a never-see-it-coming surprise.

After that we went to dinner at Gibbet Hill Grill, one of my favorite places to eat.  It was resplendent in its Christmas decor and Isaac was an absolute treat.  He sat and ate and talked to everyone (really, everyone, the waitress, the people in the booth next to us...).  It was great meal with great company.

The next morning we did Christmas with my parents and this included a SECOND day in a row of gifts for me.   Nanna and P-Pa did a great job with gifts--lots of variety.  We are going to Great Wolf courtesy of them and you all know how much Isaac loves hotels.  He also got an amazing Lego Castle that Bianca, he, and I put together to great joy on his part.  He got a Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia which is a dinner table fixture.  All in all, he was happy and we were happy as it wasn't a plastic explosion and it gave us something to look forward to after Christmas.

That afternoon we took Nanna and P-Pa into the airport.  It was pretty sad for us and I am sure it was sad for them.  There aren't a whole lot of people that are cooler than your grandparents and having them here around Christmas time was very nice for Isaac.  It was also good for me to see them on my actual birthday.  It had been seven years and I couldn't ask for a better weekend.