Christmas Visitors

Merry Christmas friends and family,

The biggest holiday of the year is close enough I can use the greeting.  Having three-year-old twins is shedding a whole new light on the excitement.  I can't remember a Christmas this enjoyable since I was in grade school.  Easton asks every day, "how many more sleeps until Christmas?"  One thing we don't have this year is a count-down calendar.  That would be a good visual measure for the twins to look at each day.

The most important part of the season so far is that Ouma, Oupa, and GG all arrived for a week-long vacation stay at the Webb resort.  We took a stroll through our neighborhood to see the wonderfully decorated houses.  It was one of the handful of times per year Kendra gets to wear her Uggs.

Here is our official 2011 Christmas card photo of the 4 Webbs.  We've never sent out Christmas cards due to lack of interest.  However, I religiously post enough pictures here throughout the year that anyone who cares to see us has a plethora of choices.

Easton and Layla aren't supposed to wonder into the neighbor's yard, but their desire to hug Rudolph was too cute to reprimand their actions.  Instead I took a picture.  :)

A particular house in our neighborhood has a decked-out yard.  the owner dresses up as Santa and allows free pictures every Saturday evening in December.  Another photo opportunity is the family Christmas tree which we gladly filled with our smiles

The best part of this holiday season is the time shared between the twins and GG, Ouma, and Oupa.  Each day Easton and Layla spring out of bed and wait patiently for our three visitors to wake up.  They are so excited to play barbie dolls and trains.  sharing the simple aspects of life are what makes the twin's day.  Walking through our neighborhood is another one of those memories they will talk about for months.

As we approached the extravagantly decorated Santa house I knelt down with the twins to give them final instructions.  I said something like, "I know you two know Santa is not real, but you can NOT talk about that when we are in the picture taking line around the other kids".  They agreed and then we approached the busy scene.  Easton and Layla both turned to us adults simultaneously and screamed, "Santa IS real!"  We didn't bother to correct them until later, but their first encounter with a fake Santa was an awesome sight to behold.

We also stopped along the way home for a photo opportunity with a nativity scene.  I never claimed to be a good photographer so it's hard to tell what they are even standing in front of.  Even an amateur like me can capture the sweetness of Easton and Layla on camera.

I promised Oupa a mostly-work-free vacation around the Webb resort, but installing the two remaining ceiling fans is above my pay grade.  We also renovated the entire kitchen sink, but other than that I've kept the handyman jobs at a minimum.  Lucky for Oupa he had the best two little helpers in the world.

As a closing story I'll briefly share how the brutal honesty of children is something parents quickly learn to navigate.  I decided to shave my stubbly face.  Part of the reason is that Layla gives me ten times more kisses with a clean shaven face.  I shaved and then found Layla to steal a kiss.  She put her hands on my cheeks and said, "Dad!  You shaved!"  I told her the reason is because I wanted to get more kisses from her.  She tilted her head and gave me a big kiss.  Then she looked intently at my face and said, "Dad, your face is smooth, but you still have a lot of hair in your nose.  You should shave that part too."

See you soon!