It's Still the Holidays! Somewhere.

Ever since the day after Christmas, I've been thinking to myself, "I should really write a Christmas post on the blog."

But then other thoughts would come and I'd forget all about the post.

Thoughts like:

"What should I make for dinner? We should be eating in 11 minutes and I've done nothing to prepare for this daily event."

"What's up with all the GoFundMe accounts? Medical ones I understand, crappy healthcare is the tie that binds most of it. But to give people money for their vacations? To purchase their hearing aids? Come on now. To put someone through college? To fund their wedding? Suffer through cheap young adulthood like everyone else."

"Where are my sweatpants?"

So you can see how I've just been swamped the past couple weeks. Hence, the late post. 

Our holiday season began with a trip to St. Augustine and their annual Nights of Lights (which is on the top 10 list of best city holiday light displays IN THE WORLD). Matt doesn't have much holiday spirit so I went with my mom. We went to the cool, big, wooden playground near the Visitors Center for awhile and then got on the trolleys to take the Holly Jolly Tour around the city. 

Doesn't that sound like fun?

They even give you these special 3D glasses that make all the lights look like snowflakes or ornaments.

I know the pictures are terrible but my phone froze halfway through so I borrowed my mom's phone and struggled with the settings. 

But really, by now, mediocre pictures are what you've come to expect from my blog.

We rode on the trolley and sang Christmas songs over the PA system and enjoyed that most beautiful city lit up for the holidays. During one song, possibly 'Santa Baby,' Noah starts loudly singing "We will, we will, ROCK YOU!" 

It really made the song.

Then we walked around the old Spanish area, which is one of my favorite places. One of the little shops had a "snow" machine, which was actually soap but these southern kids loved it.

We also ate at a Jacques Cousteau/Nautically themed eatery which serves only specialty waffles and milkshakes.

I know what you're thinking: It's about time all those things came together in one magical setting. It's only natural.

We also had a picture with Santa (in which Jack refused to participate or talk to Santa) and a picture with the world's tallest elf.

In carrying on the tradition, there were several photo sessions where I made everyone dress up in holiday attire and pose.

Everyone loves it.

Eventually, it gets so frustrating that I say "That's it! Everyone inside for dinner. Take off your antlers."

This year I even considered mailing out Christmas cards, which is a big step from years past when, if the idea of Christmas photos entered my head, I would immediately think "Screw it."

Christmas letters don't make much sense to me anymore after the advent of social media. Everyone sees pictures of my kids all the time and knows what we're doing.

Plus, I just didn't want to.


Our actual holiday was very nice. We hosted the traditional Christmas Eve dinner/ Aunt Becky's birthday/adult White Elephant gift exchange (as I type it, I realize that doesn't sound quite right.).

I try to take a picture on Christmas Eve but not this year. You'll have to wait a whole year to see my blurry cell phone picture. Sorry about your luck.

Everyone differs on this but I tend to not take a ton of pictures. First of all, most of the time nothing happens with them. They just sit on your cell phone or on your Facebook page or Instagram or whatever. Second, it tends to take over your experience. Rosie and I were at a party a couple weeks ago and we remarked that the people there weren't even really there, talking and laughing and enjoying each other. It was a couple hours of just selfies. Selfies of you, selfies of you and a friend, selfies of the whole group at the table, etc. One or two pictures, yes. But when people have 136 pictures in an album chronicling one average event, it seems to have become a problem.

Suffice it to say, I took three pictures on Christmas Day, two during the quiet afternoon at my parents house.

Christmas morning Matt and I woke up early and sat and drank hot things and had a moment to ourselves before the rabid anarchy of the morning begins. We did presents and had breakfast with Matt's parents. Noah got this construction worker set from Matt's parents and he is all about it.

We hung out and watched a movie and enjoyed the presents for awhile before we headed to my parents for lunch. It was around 80 degrees here on Christmas so my parents had a fire going ON THE TV. 

This is a picture of Christmas afternoon at my parents house. We spent some time out there sitting on the porch and listening to Kate's rendition of "Let It Go." Noah entertained us with another rousing chorus of "We Will Rock You." 

Which led to us googling the verses, while sipping our adult root beers.

Holiday Cheer.

We played games, we ate lots of food, we were together.

After Christmas, Matt took a couple days off. We considered renting a cabin in North Georgia but the weather up there was rainy. We looked into camping but lots of good sites were taken. So we stayed home. We went out to eat everyday with giftcards, we played in the yard with the kids, we played game after game of Monopoly. The trash talk, oh the trash talk. 

One day we went to Joe's Crab Shack and let the kids play on the beach. 

Tali and I spent some good time being chased by the waves and laughing.

Jack also overcame his fear and went on a (non-highway) ride around town on Matt's motorcycle. He said he might even let Papa take him on the jetski and go over 15 miles an hour. My dad, who is a safety-conscious engineer, says it's too cautious even for him.

Jack told us after the ride that he thought he was going to die the entire time. He told us "I said to myself, "Jack, this is it. Your last day on Earth.""

So that was our holiday. Consider this your Christmas newsletter/picture. And since it's already 2016, I'm just going to mark this one down as the 2016 holiday picture and letter. I'll let you know if anything changes.