Jack and Henry pose with a giant wreath during one of our walks down to the Boardwalk arcade:
A new donut place opened downtown, so of course we had to check that out.
And, with that, the holiday season began.
Henry insists on carrying the box, is less enthusiastic about posing with the giant donut:
Henry and a whale of a donut:
Jack with maple bar:
It turned out that most of this shop's donuts are a little too intense for us (lots of toppings and fillings). More dessert than breakfast, definitely.
Jack shows off his December calendar:
Henry is less thrilled with the picture-taking:
Henry doing homework in my car while Jack is in parkour class:
Henry got tired of waiting in the car for Jack to be done with parkour every week, so he is now attending the school's aftercare program on parkour day. This was the last day he was stuck hanging out with me.
Jack's moose art project:
Jack with friend Avery and their reindeer puppets:
Jack "helping" with the cones at school:
Blends right in:
Henry's penguins:
Jack's penguins:
Though they fight almost constantly, this is how they choose to sit when they spend time on their tablets:
Jack consulting his MarioKart banana peel stuffie about his newest elaborate game:
Said game in progress:
In a time-honored holiday tradition, disgruntled children are dragged to the mall by their mother.
Mall Santa photos are much cheaper when Santa isn't there.
Henry received a nice note from his teacher in her weekly newsletter, in appreciation for his quick thinking while the class waited for their dance class to begin (unknown to them, the class had been canceled that day): "Thank you to Henry for thinking up an impromptu animal charade game while we waited and waited."
Henry: "Guess who my favorite is, you or Dad?"
Me, without hesitation: "Dad."
Henry: "You got it right!"
Henry and Jack decided to draw penguins for me.
They indulge Mom with a smile:
Jack waits, dramatically, while Henry tries on shoes:
I can, and did, say no. I'm heartless. Fortunately for Jack's stuffed stack of pancake ambitions, he had some allowance money to spend.
How can I say no to this face?
We made my family's traditional Spritz Christmas cookies. The kids decided to decorate theirs to look like monsters, naturally.
Henry's monster, complete with melted cinnamon imperial mouth:
Jack takes after his cookie (or it takes after him?):
I have very little energy these days, but Steve worked valiantly to get some decorations up on the houses.
Our house:
The grandparent timeshare/our overflow house:
You know it's Christmas when the Lego wreath goes up:
Jack and Steve work on the Lego Christmas Elf House:
Then it was time to get a tree. We contemplated going up to the tree farm in the mountains like we did last year, but ultimately decided on a local tree lot instead.
I was talking to Steve about something in the news (I don't recall what) and Jack kept interrupting to ask questions. In response to my annoyance, Jack said thoughtfully, "I'm still little and don't know much about the news."
Jack blends right in:
Henry with the decorated tree (and stuffed rabbit):
Jack with the decorated tree (and Lego reindeer and sleigh):
It was nice tree this year.
Jack, Henry and I stopped in on the Santa Cruz Museum of Art's annual model train exhibition. This is the second year we've gone, and it's a fun little diversion.
We went to the lighted boat parade in Santa Cruz Harbor on December 2nd. We were lucky to be offered a pre-parade tour of the local Sea Scouts' boat.
Steve, Henry and Jack on board:
Up on the top deck:
Peter Pan themed boat, complete with some poor soul hanging out halfway up the mast:
Boats cruise the outer harbor:
Henry and Jack watch the parade:
Overview of the inner harbor:
We attended the Santa Cruz holiday parade downtown (one whole block from our house).
Jack gave the whole thing an enthusiastic thumbs-up and didn't want to leave. Henry said, wearily, "It wasn't that interesting."
Friend Lucy waves while (as we call him) "Big" Jack and son Anthony follow the high school band in the relief golf cart (their oldest son Alex plays saxophone in the band):
The big man at the end:
Henry wanted to stop in at the local toy store to visit Santa, but when the time came, he decided he wanted to sit with Dad instead:
Coming up next time: winter break adventures!
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