Alright, so I know that I officially am a horrible blogger. I think I have had about four posts so far this year, so maybe I will look at being a better blogger as a New Years resolution!

We have been busy getting ready for the holidays. My aunt, unlce and cousins are flying out form Martha's Vineyard and will be staying at our house for Chirstmas, so needless to say we have pulled out all of our decorations and are trying to make the house extra special this year. Holden had a great time helping Chris hang the lights and the fresh garland on the outside of the house. He is a great helper about 50% of the time and a typical three year old the rest of the time!

He also had a good time setting up the Christmas tree. We actually have two Christmas trees every year. We have the main tree in the living room, and then we have a second tree in the Cougar room that is decorated in all Cougar ornaments. Just a fun tradition and adds some festivity in the room where we spend the most of our time.

One of Holden's favorite parts of the Christmas tree is the train that travels around it. He is still really into trains and even asked Santa to bring him a new train for around the tree. HE was not at all afraid of Santa. He was so looking forward to seeing him and you can see the look of wonderment while they were talking. He is just so into all things Christmas this year. It is the first year where he is really starting to understand it and what everything means. It adds so much meaning for both Chris and me to see the magic in his eyes.

Last week we went on the Cougar Alumni holiday lights cruise out on Lake Coeur d'Alene. We went on the cruise with Holden's friends Tyler and Jaclyn and their parents who are coug alums too. They have a bunch of lights set up around the resort and you cruise around looking at them and then continue cruising out to the North Pole to see Santa. Santa then has all of the kids names and reads them off of the nice list and gets all fo the kids excited. The cruise was a lot of fun, and due to poor planning on their part (the cruise was on the same night as the WSU vs. Gonzaga basketball game) there were only about 30 people on the boat so we got lots of time to hang out with Santa Butch on the boat.

Well, it wouldn't seem like Christmas without snow! Today has been the first real snowfall and it has not been disappointing. At 5:oo when the news was on we are up to eight inches of snow and they have unofficially closed all of the roads in town and are telling people not to drive. They have even said that no one is allowed to travel on the south hill without chains. I have never even heard of that happening. It is supposed to keep snowing for awhile so it will be interesting to see how much we end up with when the storm passes. Holden did help us shovel today and had a great time playing in all fo the snow. Unfortunately for him it is a really powdery snow so he was not able to make any snowballs or a snowman, but he still had a great time with snowangels and sledding!

If I don't post again before Christmas, and lets be honest here, I probably won't, I hope that everyone has a great holiday and a great New Year!