Christmas 2010 Pictures (with flashbacks)

M 3 years ago in Mom's kitchen

When I’m preparing for Christmas, I don’t often remember what it’s really like on the day, or how nice it is the week after with the kids playing their new games and lots of left overs making meal prep easy.

This year I noticed some patterns.  We set a play station up for K in the kitchen so she could enjoy her presents while we cleaned up wrapping paper, and worked on the meal.  We did the same for M 3 years ago when he was 4.

K's fingerpainting station
The curtain behind K cuts the draft from the front room, Mom has had it since I was a baby.

This year, M and B needed an older kid space, so they set up games in the basement – away from the turkey prep flutter and the toddler glee.

My cousins went down to the basement to play Settlers of Catan toddler free, but wound up fixing the megablocks space shuttle we inherited without instructions
When you play Carcasonne with 4 expansion packs at once, it takes up more than one card table.
My new sweater and Spellbinder Grand Calibur machine from Mom
My birthday cake 3 years ago: a Buche de Noel with meringue mushrooms

Mom made me a buche de Noel again for my birthday this year.  The meringues were so crunchy and yummy.