So be good for goodness sake...

Well, so I didn't make my deadline of posting all of 2010's activities in 2010. New Year's Eve became unexpectedly busy as we prepared to go out the evening (for the first time since 2003, thank you very much). We were lucky enough to attend a family friendly celebration, complete with impromptu balloon drop for the kids. And, like any truly good New Year's Eve party, someone ended up with a black eye. Unfortunately, it was Matt. He rallied nicely, though, and in fact announced that evening that the party hosts' daughter was now his girlfriend, and that they were to be married soon. My kid knows how to do New Year's Eve right.

But, now that the holidays are officially past us, perhaps I can get caught up on the blogging. The weeks leading up to Christmas are always packed full of festive activities, including Santa visits, train rides and playdates.

Matt realized around Thanksgiving that he needed to start behaving in a Santa-approved fashion, thanks in part to the Elf on the Shelf. For those without small children, the Elf on the Shelf is a genius invention - a tiny elf, sent from Santa, who lives in your house and reports nightly to Santa, telling him all of your major and minor infractions from that day. It's like the North Pole Stasi. Kind of creepy, but highly effective in encouraging good holiday behavior.

I'm watching you...

Anyway, perhaps due to the Elf, the obligatory Santa visit went well, with none of the screeching or other protests we've had in years past.



Matt helped decorate the house for Christmas, including a big tree in his room this year complete with a train running around the bottom of the trunk. He also added his own touch to my Santa collection display: a random Lego guy. He looks like he might have a head wound.



We found a new Santa train this year, promising scenic vistas of rolling Kentucky horse farms and a fun sing-a-long. Unfortunately, the day of the train ride was bitterly cold and spitting a fine combination of rain/ice/sleet, so the scenery was a little on the bleak side. Also, we were seated near the front of the train and could hear the engineer on the radio to the brakeman yelling, "Traction! We can't get any traction on these rails!" Not exactly confidence inspiring.

At the Bluegrass Railroad in Versailles (for you non-Kentuckians, that's pronounced Ver-sales, as in "I found a really good sale in Versailles." No, I don't know why. It's weird. But what I do know, I'm not from here.)




Waiting to board - cold and windy!


Despite the traction issue, the ride itself was good - there was indeed a sing-a-long, led by our conductor, a retired music minister.



Mr. and Mrs. Claus were both on board, and both commented on Matt's railroad hat, which was enormously pleasing to him.

Cute train hat


Mrs. Claus


The Big Man himself


All the children got to walk down the train to visit individually with Santa. Santa told Matt that if he didn't drive a sleigh, he'd definitely travel by train. Freaky train people are everywhere, apparently, even at the North Pole.



At school, all the kindergarten classes performed Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in the Christmas assembly, with little red noses and antlers. Matt did a great job, standing in the front row and singing all the words this year.




Over the school break, Matt's friends came over to decorate cookies for Santa, which is always fun, loud, and leads to large amounts of colored sugar all over my floors.





The kids all looked so cute and Christmasy that we forced them to pose for pictures, which they tolerated for a few minutes.





As an aside, the girl standing next to him at the foot of the stairs with the dark hair is his new girlfriend and apparently, future wife.

All of these pre-Christmas festivities were of course only leading up to the big day. I will attempt to get the actual Christmas pictures posted very soon, although the new year is already shaping up to be a busy one. And of course, the boy's birthday is this week, which doesn't help. But stay tuned...more holiday madness to come....