Wait--Christmas was a month ago?!?!

I'm a little behind.

(And now I'm giggling to myself because I'm making jokes in my head about my big behind. THIS is why I don't blog more. Well, one of the reasons.)

So...Christmas. It was awesome. We had a fantastic time. It was a month ago. We're still sad that it's over. I had all these great stories in mind, and obviously didn't write them down. But let's face it, we just like pictures, so here's our Christmas recap (also known as "I like parentheses"):

Mabes is quite excited.

Oh, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. We really don't have any pictures from the first few days of our trip, but let me summarize: we took a very late flight there, I lounged around, Dave worked, the girls played, we went to the gym (I know! On vacation! Consider it damage control), and of course, ate.

The crowns are from another great tradition: Christmas Crackers. We are nothing if not silly.

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional family dinner with us, Jeff's fiancee and her parents, my Aunt Nancy, Shelley (practically an aunt), and the Obers (also practically family--Krissy is the cute-but-nerdy younger sister we needed one more of). My parents have been even more health-conscious lately, so I'd warned them if my mom pulled a tofurkey out of the oven, we'd be heading to In-N-Out. Thankfully, dinner was prime rib, turkey, See's candy, mashed potatoes, Mom's rolls, Mom's caramels, veggies, and Nancy's awesome salad. (What, did no one else have a candy course? I may have made a detour on my way for seconds.)

I made my friend Brandi's toffee dip for apples, which is amazing. I told my mom I was going to make this for people to munch on before dinner, and when she saw what goes into it, she said, "So we're having dessert before dinner, then dinner, then brownies and ice cream after?" I didn't see a problem, and neither did she when she tasted the dip.

Despite the feast, Laura apparently didn't get enough and proceeded to eat Annabelle's cheek.

After dinner, my dad insisted we sing some Christmas songs, and Mabes got up and belted out "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." I didn't know she knew all the words. She was great and I was so shocked I didn't get video until the last 3 words. Doh.

Mabes singing with Babybelle rockin' out.

Christmas morning was fun. Mabes was particularly excited about her new chapstick, Littlest Pet Shop toys, and camera (she spent the whole day at Biltmore pretending to take pictures), but when she opened the present I was most excited for--a leotard, tights, ballet slippers, and a note from Santa telling her she'd be starting dance lessons--she burst into tears. She said she was "too nerbuss to go to dance lessons." WHAT?!?! This girl has rarely shown fear. Ever. This is a girl who dances everywhere. Where is this coming from? We told her she didn't have to go, and we didn't speak of it again. At least that day.

Chapstick!

The day before, Mabes had been saying her tooth was loose. I brushed it off, since one of her classmates had lost his tooth in class a few days earlier. She's too young, I thought, it's just wishful thinking. Then she told me she could wiggle it. Seriously? So I made her open wide, and sure enough, her tooth wiggled. Crazy! It'll be a few days, though, right? I didn't think about it again, until the next day (Christmas) Mabes was walking into our room, made a face, and spit something out. Of course I was mad, "What did you just spit out of your mouth? Go to the bathroom!" "It was something in my mouth--I think it was my tooth!" Clearly she doesn't understand how this works, you don't just spit out a tooth. And then she picked up her tooth and smiled at me:

I hope they're all this easy.

That night, the Hills arrived, bringing all the cousins, lots of noise, and loads of fun.

It was really nice having other kids there to occupy Mabes so we could focus on eating. And talk, of course.

We did get out, though, and spent a day in San Francisco. We walked on the Golden Gate Bridge, had lunch at Jeff and Jess's apartment, and went to the Exploratorium.

And Annabelle turned 1!

Don't worry, Puppy, you'll get your own birthday post. When I get around to it.

Other than that, we pretty much just hung out and had a blast.

More video games:

More eating:

More baby-eating:

More cuddling:

It was a great vacation.