Christmas

Hey y'all, 

Your grandparents from Arkansas came out right before Christmas to spend the holiday with us. When they are at their house, they enjoy a sterile haven of quiet. When they are at our house, they get to enjoy compressed mayhem at volume 80 with bonus Play Doh in the carpet. 

To get ready for the holiday, Peg Peg and Laney made cookies. 

You know when you're packing for a trip and you're so busy or stressed, you can't really focus on what's going into the suitcase, and then you sit on the plane and finally take a breath and think, "It's possible I just packed 13 shirts and no pants?" That's kind of how Christmas shopping was for me... I'd been so busy in December with the commercials I'd been working on that on Christmas Eve, when I pulled out all the gifts I'd hidden, I was quite certain I was going to discover that I'd bought one person a hundred presents and another person zero. Luckily, it didn't matter because Hagen is quite happy to get one thing, play with it all day and leave everything else wrapped under the tree. 

As in, "Oh, cool! I got a whistle. We can be done here."

Not so with Laney. Laney would happily open her presents, your presents, and the neighbor's presents. She wants to open the prop presents under the fake trees at department stores.

Wrapped it herself. So proud. 

Santa brought Laney a bike. Laney didn't seem to care, so Peg Peg took it for a spin. 

By far, the most memorable present of the morning was the karaoke machine that Grandpops sent us from Missouri. Dad was Laney's duet partner, Hagen sang back-up, and Tex worked the spot. 

Earlier in the month, Grandpops had emailed me, looking for a gift idea for Laney. We had a correspondence that went something like this:

Sunday, November 30, 2014 10:46 AM

I can't believe I'm suggesting this, because it's like throwing gasoline on a fire, but I think Laney would get a kick out of a karaoke machine. BUT PLEASE NOTE: If you go this route, you must also send along booze her her parents. -Brooke

Sunday, November 30, 2014 6:00PM

Better tell me quick what y'all like to drink. -Joe

Sunday, November 30, 2014 6:24 PM

If we're looking at a 5 year-old belting songs from Frozen with a plugged-in microphone and a light show?   Moonshine.  -Brooke

And lo, it came to pass:

They're fun in Missouri. We haven't tried this yet but if it turns out that it's undrinkable, I can always use it to remove my nail polish. 

Merry Christmas, one and all. Like it says in the Bible: Crank up the showtunes and pass the moonshine. 

Love,

Mom