Sunday, December 12, 2010

Snow

First real snow of the year (a week or so ago it was spitting snow, but nothing accumulated, other than along the edges of the car windows).




Right now, we've got an inch or so outside. So, it's a good thing that I bought a snow shovel yesterday, and that we put up the Xmas lights today.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Christmas traditions

So far, as a family, we have one tradition of our own (not involving Parental Units, etc.). For the past few years, we've gone to see the tree-lighting ceremony at Shelter Insurance. They do it up pretty nice: the local news sends a camera truck, there's a choir and band from a local school, Santa Claus, the whole bit.


The weather was nice this year, relatively speaking, but I thought we might not be able to go. El Burrito got hit with what seems like a rebound of the ear infection he had before Thanksgiving, and spent most of the day in bed. But we started the antibiotics today, and that plus a solid dose of ibuprofen perked him up enough that he wanted to see the tree this year. So I bundled him up and we drove to Shelter.


We saw them putting the tree up on Monday, I think. It's fake, breaks down to a metal frame and maybe a dozen sections of "tree" so it goes up pretty swiftly.



This year the lights are all clear.

They advertise the ceremony as starting at 6:00, and they aren't kidding. We were headed back for the car at 6:05 (we didn't stand in line to see Santa, since El B. is sickly today). Better to get there early than on time, because you might miss it.

And then we came home, tempted El Burrito's appetite with a cheeseburger and fries from McDonald's, and he napped on the couch some more. We passed the time watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on the new DVR, which is already almost full. Highlights: the pizza-twirling drill team, the Sesame Street float, and the balloons of Horton, Buzz Lightyear, Snoopy, and Kermit.