I make no promises regarding how well we will finish the Christmas season, but we are currently doing a bang up job. We snapped off a half dozen pictures of the three of us on Thanksgiving, picked a good one, and promptly had Costco print up our Christmas cards. Out came the decorations from the crawlspace, up went the newly purchased tree, and back into the crawlspace went the empty boxes. Upon mailing the cards and tweaking the decorations a bit here and there we'll be in tall cotton as they say.

I'm sure there are many Santas to be had across Anchorage, but given some existing errands at the snazzy downtown mall, we decided that Henry would have a grand time with that Santa. I suspect some lower end locations throughout town have 150 lb Santas with poorly fitting fake beards, which is something we'd really like to avoid. Not the fifth avenue mall! They've got a jolly guy with a legitimate beard and stomach. We're talking A list Santa here. Henry never cracked a full blown smile, but remained very content as he always does when being held in a position where he can endless gaze at new places and people. If he even has a personality or disposition at this age, it is undeniably one of quiet interest and wonder at the wide world opening up before his eyes.