Merry Christmas!

Happy cousins in their new Christmas Eve PJs. Juniper, in case you can't tell, is showing off her lost tooth.

 I'm not sure it gets much cuter than this.

Christmas morning delight! Hazel's remote controlled car was a  huge hit...until it stopped working before the kids had even gone back to school.

Hazel had been wanting sunglasses for a long time, so Aaron bought every single child-sized pair they had at Goodwill.This pair is the one that's had staying power.

It also has small LED lights to illuminate the object under examination (or just to shine in people's eyes).

CLUE PRESENTS! Luke didn't quite get the whole idea of following clues to get to his present. He was basically happy the whole time, but baffled by everyone else's excitement and desire for him to move on to the next step.

Hazel finds her clue present in the bathtub...

 

 ...and excitedly opens it. The enclosed painting supplies have been a big hit with our little artist.

Boundless enthusiasm + reading ability = a great age for clue presents.

Juniper enjoying her clue present: a box set of Roald Dahl books and a DIY fort-making kit.

 Hazel and Luke got matching truck sets to assemble and paint, which gave us a good excuse to pull out some of Hazel's new paints.

 Hazel can really focus on an art project when she is engaged.

Christmas morning part 2: opening presents with family at Janet's house.

Uncle Grier is the cool uncle who will give you fireworks for Christmas (and set them off, too).

 These terrific dress-up wings have been a big hit! They got eagle wings...

 ...and bat wings!

It's the traditional Christmas geode! I love that our family is so full of geology nerds that two different people chose to give geodes as Christmas gifts - and both Juniper and Rebecca were happy to receive them.