Visit to Santa

We visited Santa today! Here we are getting ready to leave. (Tia M, note the pink purse! BB loves it! She'd stuffed it full of things to show Santa, important things like puzzle pieces, a pirate eye patch from the dress up box, a stuffed fabric coin....)
When we got there, we didn't even have to wait in line. Santa was hanging out as though he'd been waiting just for us! The kids warmed up pretty quickly and had no problem telling The Man In Red what they'd like for Christmas. BJ said, "I want an orrery!" And then went on to explain to Santa, just in case he didn't know (and frankly, I'm not so sure that the explanation was unwelcome!) that an orrery is a model of the solar system that moves around and has the sun and all the planets. BB's request was more firmly in typical preschooler territory: she wants a Belle princess doll.

Here's what happens when you tell our kids to smile for the camera:

Because you know, that visiting Santa ordeal is a grim business!

Here's my favorite one of everybody but BJ:

And lastly, this one was voted by the family as the best picture of them all. We plan to use it for holiday cards this year. Which we do have every intention of sending! We're just waiting to hear about our P.O. Box which will be our new address once we move on campus, so we can let folks know about that at the same time:
I can hardly believe Christmas is just two short weeks away. Most of my shopping is done, thankfully -- this year, almost all of it was done online. I'm making a fair chunk of the gifts this year, which is fun, as well as purchasing several gifts from other handcraft artists. I'm not yet ready to go full-on with a handmade holiday, though that's an admirable goal. Maybe someday!

Next up: baking! Baklava! Praying the rain breaks so I have good weather to make meringues!