The holidays were a blur of activities
and runny noses
and unseasonably cold weather
but they started off nice. and. quiet.
We took Rio to the Main Street Holiday Parade -
the Ringling elephants were even there (since we live in a circus town) -
It is something Rio is still talking about.
And of course we went all over town checking out the light displays.
Those are the times it'd be nice if it would snow in Florida.
I had to put environmentally-friendly poly-fil
on the ground around our snowmen
just so they wouldn't look weird.
Sad, I know.
The tree was pretty.
The presents survived until Christmas
despite a 2 year old thinking it was the most fun
to jump on the boxes
and a dog who tried to lift his leg
once.
And I even got Rio to sit in front of the tree for a little photo op
to make up for the missed shot of her with Santa.
I had her distracted waving and talking to Grammy
and I thought I could casually place her on Santa's knee,
snap the picture,
and move on with our day.
But once she felt herself placed on someone's knee
turned around and saw Santa,
she ran off crying.
We'll try again next year!
In the end
Rio enjoyed the magic,
we enjoyed her,
and we made it through hosting the entire family
at our new house,
flooded kitchen and all!
(fyi: don't put all the potato peels down the garbage disposal at once)
Happy New Year!
