Getting Ready for Christmas

We put up our Christmas tree the first Monday after Thanksgiving, as is our custom. A lot of the bulbs on our pre-lit tree are out, so I tried buying a magic bulb zapper device that didn't work at all. Very disappointing. 

Sabrina said that she thought Clark was old enough to put the star on the tree this year, and let him do it even though she has always done it in the past. Clark was very excited to have the honor of putting up the star. 

We still have the little tree from when we were first married. We decided to put it up in the back room and let Sabrina put the star on top of that tree. 

We went to a Kristkindl Market in Arlington which did not turn out the way we hoped. We did see Santa (we couldn't take pictures, you had to let them take pictures and pay for them). Maybe even better than Santa, they had pony rides! Sabrina was so excited to ride on a pony and she was just grinning from ear to ear the whole time. 

Clark was much more somber throughout the pony ride, but I did manage to get this picture of him looking a little like a chubby little Marlboro Man. I guess he could be the Marshmallow Man instead.

Tonight we made a gingerbread house. We used a kit, which I think made it more fun. Judging from Sabrina's teeth, I'd say she either was eating some chocolate or has turned British. I'll let you decide. And yes, Clark is just in his underwear. And socks.

Thanksgiving in Ohio

Sabrina's school district had the entire week off for Thanksgiving break. We figured that with such a long break we should go on a family trip somewhere. They say there is no place like home for the holidays, and since we will be visiting my parents for Christmas, we decided to head up to Ohio.

Sabrina helping Opa makes impossible pie. Everybody helped out in the kitchen for Thanksgiving dinner,and it turned out to be a real feast. Or two real feasts if you count all the leftovers we had for dinner the day after Thanksgiving.

My lovely wife is always so happy to see her parents that she just needed to take a selfie with her mom. Maybe it isn't a selfi but an usie?

Clark got to have an extra birthday party with an orange impossible pie.

Clark with his very manly book of threes to celebrate turning three. It included fish caught by his great uncle Gary, big machine gears, small game traps, Marine Gunnery Sergeants, and Ka-bars.

We don't have many trees in our yard at home, so the kids were excited to play in leaf piles at Oma and Opa's. Can you find Sabrina?

Of course the best part of the whole trip was just spending quality time together. Everybody had a great time. 

I should also mention that the kids were very good on the long car trips. We made the trip home in one day: almost 1000 miles and total travel time of just over 16 hours. Fortunately, we had an iPad to help keep the kids entertained. I don't know how people did it back in the olden days.

White Beards

Sabrina and Clark wanted to have "white beards" like I do when I shave. So after I was done shaving, I put some shaving cream on their faces. Then I used the back of a comb to "shave" the cream off. After that I put a drop of aftershave on my finger and rubbed it under their noses so they could smell aftershave without smelling like aftershave. They were very excited about how smooth shaving made their cheeks feel. Sabrina also said the aftershave smelled like a man. I'm relieved that aftershave and not sweaty socks is what smells like a man to her

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