Easter Sunday, and chocolate abounds within the house.  Sandy does this to me at critical holiday junctures..she places temptation all over the place in the form of little chocolate eggs, kisses, bars whatever.  I have a terrible weakness for chocolate..once I take the smallest bite I am DOOMED and have to finish whatever is in front of me.  It is a terrible affliction to have, there is very little upside to eating a pound of chocolate at one sitting…….

Memorial Day

St. Patrick’s day came and went without much of a contribution from me.  But I was in a part of the world where they take this day seriously and  I came across this announcement still taking pride of place on the outside wall….a long time after the day had past.  I didn’t go in to check if they were still celebrating, but for all I know….they might have been.  I was struck by an interesting combination of names…Italian / Irish…..spaghetti and Guinness…? 

And this is what Santa left under the tree.  Amazingly it was all assembled by the elves and Santa’s helpers.  It brought a gasp from LB and then utter quiet apart from the Choo Choo as the trains were racing around the track…the expression on his face was worth the price of admission…it was a great Christmas morning….

Its Christmas Eve and Santa is on the prowl.  He comes to our house and finds little Barry in the kitchen.  I don’t know if  you can see the expression, but it is one of the widest grins you will ever see on a three year old.  And the big day has not even arrived yet…..He has made it clear to all who would listen that he has been GOOD this year.  He is learning the rules of the game early…..

Oh the excitement!  The tree is laden, its base covered with presents.  The Angel on top beams down on all of us and it is almost a white Christmas outside.  This has been a relaxed year for Xmas in many respects.  The crowds were not overwhelming in the malls, Sandy started preparations well before their due date, and the Christmas party (normally a scene of Ok food) this year was catered by a friend and was a STUNNING success.  So we enter the final run up to Christmas relaxed, laid back and confident that no matter what, little Barry’s joy is going to be our best Christmas present anyway.

We are edging ever closer to the magic of the 24th.  We are also going through one of those cold, frigid spells when the temperature is a steady ZERO with the wind chill. On such days, this sight really appeals to me.  It must have something to do with the ancient instinct to retreat deep into caves in bad weather, wrap ourselves up in furs and stay warm until spring.

Kids are supposed to get a kick out of this fella?  He looks scary to me! Colorful though and NYC lines them up every December for out of towners like me to take photographs.  But it’s OK to be conventional every now and then and Ooh and AAh at things…I just did that with a moving staircase in Minneapolis so taking shots of wooden soldiers is not out of the norm for folks who like the simple pleasures of life.