This year seems to be the year for questions. C asked the dreaded question of whether or not Santa was real. Ryan quickly responded, "Yes, of course he is!"....we have decided that in the future, when this question comes up, we will just say that you must believe to receive. That way, no one gets accused of not being honest. Safety. And then there is the whole elf thing. Matthew, our elf, continues to hide about our house. He hides in things, on top of things, around things.....everywhere. One day, Pryce asked, "Is he REALLY real? I mean, look at that tag on his pants." Me, not wanting to cave, carefully walked over and observed the elf's pants for this tag....thankfully, there was no tag - a long shirt but no tag, I was able to point this out to P, he was satisfied and he went about his day. He LOVES the elf and can't wait to find him each morning to see what kind of mischief he has gotten himself into during the night. And then there are the letters to Santa. Out of respect for this child, I will not print his name but I have to share one thing that he asked for.....a BB gun complete with targets and safety goggles. Love that he asked for safety goggles. His letter reads, Dear Santa, I would like this, this, this "and a bb gun (wish me luck on that one!)"......I laughed when I read that and asked him why he needed luck. He responded, "Because I know that you and Dad will talk, you both will decide no to the gun and that will be that. Santa won't give us anything you don't approve of." Yes, he is right.....on one part of that at least. And then, last but not least, P has been doing a lot of thinking. His question for us at dinner was, "So, do you think that Santa gets all of his money from the Tooth Fairy?" Pretty good theory for a seven year old! It looks as if everyone is still on board with Santa, the elf and the magic of Christmas, at least for now....love this time of year!

Stay tuned, we are improving.....meaning, one year ago, Mason-Kate sadly screamed in horror as the jolly red suited Santa made his appearance in her life for the first time at a church Christmas party. It was sad. This year, he came in and MK watched from her seat with her big, bright eyes....she never moved, she never smiled, she just watched. When he left the room, MK looked at me and said, "I not sit on Santa's lap with my boys. I sit on Santa's lap with you." Ok, so that is how it went, she sat on my lap, the boys with Santa, and Ryan ran to jump in too. How she sat on my lap was the funny part. She sat facing me, hands gripping my arms, her head tucked into my chest. This is improvement, yes. She didn't cry, not even one little tear. And she told Mrs. Claus thank you when it was all said and done.

Our elf, Matthew, is back and wreaking havoc on our holiday decorations. Seems he has gotten a bit more mischievous this year. He is into rearranging our decor and then he perches himself next to his mess to keep a watch on the behavior in our home. Silly elf. Pryce is so excited about Matthew; MK can't figure him out and asks at least once a day "who dat is?"; Colin has deemed Matthew a "decoy"....
Yesterday we made our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm. We typically spend a few hours there, first selecting the tree of all trees for our home and then drinking hot chocolate, eating baked goodies and visiting with friends that we run into. To fight the cold yesterday, I layered myself with first a t-shirt, a sweater, then Colin's heavy jacket and topped it off with my coat....layering is the style, right? Our day was wonderful, our tree is beautiful and now the boxes can be put away. Yay.

During the hayride, P spotted a ladybug. Ladybugs are a popular good luck sign among those in the Chinese adoption community. For us, it symbolizes our hope and dreams to go back. To find this "needle" in a haystack, during this holiday season, assured us to hold onto our hope.

After our wonderful day out, we ventured back home to begin the afternoon of decorating. Last year, we did this same thing....we visited the farm, got the perfect tree, came home only to realize that the tree was too big for our stand....back to the farm, got another perfect tree, back home, decorated. This year during our drive home, Ryan and I talked about our plans for the afternoon, football, and dinner. The entire drive, I kept thinking how pleasant the day had been and how easy the tree selection had gone....good thoughts. We arrived home, drove into the garage, the usual. After I turned the car off, I looked into my rear view mirror only to see this tiny little evergreen hanging down from the back of my car....it was the top of our tree! We had driven into the garage with the 9 ft tall Christmas tree on top!

**Click on the pic of MK with Ryan to make it larger. Notice her little eye peering back at me.....