This Christmas greeting is NOT late . . .

I know it seems like I'm way behind on blogging, and I really am, but I am NOT too late to send out a little Christmas card.

I know, most of you have probably already packed up the decorations, put away the treats and presents, moved on with the new year's resolutions, all that jazz. We kind of stay in holiday mode until school starts again for Brady, which is tomorrow, so we haven't caught up to all you productive people yet.

And seriously, who can't even get it together for a measly electronic card? It's not like there's any postage, envelope stuffing, address gathering, or mail delivery timing to factor in. Seems kind of pathetic, I know. (You can see that Charlie is clearly disappointed in me too.)

Well, one of these days (or over the period of several days) I will get caught up here (I'm not letting go!), and tell you all about our busy (and sick--blech) season. But I will not excuse myself for being late here. Because I'm not. Did you know that it is technically still Christmas time? Or Christmastide, I should say. You know that song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"? It's not about the 12 days leading up to Christmas. It's about the days following Christmas. True story. Look it up. Or don't, since I just told you. Tonight is the twelfth day of Christmas, or twelfth night. Tomorrow is the feast of Epiphany (so everyone be brilliant). We technically only celebrate the first day in our culture these days. So there you go. I totally just enriched you lives and maybe just helped you out if you're ever on Jeopardy! You're welcome. Merry Christmas. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a happy new year. We love you all.

There. Mission accomplished. And here is a special, happier greeting from Charlie. It's not his best rendition of these phrases, but it's what we caught on film on Christmas Eve. We worked so hard on it all month (since his "Happy Thanksgiving" came out sounding more like "Happy Pig-skin!"), and he was usually a pretty good performer for us, except, of course, when the camera was on him. Here it is anyway.



VID 20131224 205529 from Annalisa on Vimeo.



P.S. I promise we didn't torture Charlie with Santa Claus. He sat on Santa's lap for all of maybe 15 seconds before we rescued him. But I couldn't resist the pictures, which were taken in very quick succession (and, boy, that Santa was a pro). Ellie was so thrilled when Santa showed up at the end of our ward Christmas party, she pushed her fingers up into her cheeks, smiling really hard. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I just don't want my smile to go away!"