Faux Christmas

We celebrated our family Christmas on the 27th. Crystal gave the kids astronaut helmets, which they loved. Hugo loved it but would neither wear it nor let anyone else wear it. He would wear his jet pack, however.

 Milo is a great baby, being happy to play with whatever toys are within his reach. Fortunately, his reach is limited, as he doesn't crawl yet!

Hugo did enjoy playing with the magnet men, though.

The girls also enjoyed the magnet men. It is wonderful to be so young and easily entertained.

In the afternoon Whistling Prairie started practicing for next year's Christmas CD.

It was good to be together again. We've been doing this for so many years, that the family really can  just pick up where we left off last year.

We also had most of the music and arrangements written out, which was great. I only had one really hard pennywhistle solo this year, which made my part very non-stressful!

The kids really want to get into the act, and especially love driving us crazy by playing the xylophone. We didn't mind Milo playing a little djembe occasionally.

We found other ways to entertain the grandchildren. They especially enjoyed the trampolines and the johnny-jump-up.

We also could get an hour of quiet time if we let them watch a movie.

On the 28th we celebrated my birthday again with a family meal.

I got a giant teddy-bear birthday cake, and Mabel helped me blow out the candles. All 66 of them! OK, they only had about a half dozen on the cake. Which was a good thing. I don't think we could have managed more. I'm starting to feel short of breath again, and appreciated Mabel's help!