Invoking a little yuletide Sinatra is always in style.
The retrospective begins...NOW...
The first week of December is always chock-full to a ridiculous degree: my 40th birthday (anguish! dang those zeroes!), and, as always, The Nutcracker. Our 2nd year running at the International Ballet's production at the University of Denver, stellar every time. The gals always make a night of it, and almost as entertaining as the show itself, bookended by Noodles & Company and Bonnie Brae ice cream, is watching the boys fenagle themselves out of attending.
Our greatest aspirations of cutting down a tree are foiled again (who's got a spare day to jog up to the mountains, what with swim meets, basketball practices, the oddly scheduled birthday party?), but the tree lot by Chili's will do in a pinch. Reminiscent of my childhood tree-trimming, our background symphony was provided courtesy of Monday Night Football, which always gives me a feeling of security and a sense that all is well with the world. I wish I could say I was kidding.
It's just one of the happiest nights of the year. Our newest ornaments represented the Star Wars, vintage Barbie, holiday Barbie, and Alice in Wonderland collections. Glad tidings, indeed!
Budget cuts made it necessary to eliminate the choir program for the 6th grade, to Eve's great disappointment, but the 4th graders got a clear shot, and Ty's been loving the experience. The holiday concert was a joy to watch and observe, and certainly involved about 1/100 of the usual spectators. More glad tidings.
Apparently, singing for Clear Sky was as far as Ty was willing to go...Shane and Evie, far left, brought their sterling talents and matchless stage presence to the nativity for the Foothills Ward Christmas party, regaling the precious plastic baby Jesu with angelic ministrations...
No, I can't get enough of crouching princesses in front of Christmas trees, if you were wondering.
This year I'm room mom for 3 classrooms - the 6th graders got a breakfast and rousing game of whiteboard Pictionary for their holiday send-off...is Castle Rock Middle School ready for these scorching beauties next Fall?
The 4th graders received the same treatment, and their breakfast was crazy over-the-top. One of the things I've come to expect is that no matter how many e-mails and fliers you deliver to parents, 9 out of 10 of them will not respond, leading you to believe that you need to procure $40 worth of food on your own, only to find that they send in $40 worth of food apiece the morning of the party...I'm learning to be grateful for their particular brand of ill-communicated generosity. I really am.
Pictionary. I tried to mix it up a bit, but they manhandled my little suggestions in mere seconds. Only 'eggnog' slowed 'em up a bit.
The kindies got the real production, which their age, attention span and parental involvement both necessitate and make possible...they got a Polar Express extravaganza: tickets punched by a conductor as they followed the taped train track to listen, on board, to the story while sipping hot chocolate.
They got to make tree decorations, play "Conductor Says" and decorate Twinkie trains...the preciousness of this age group always kills me. I hate to think it's my last go-round. But it is. It IS.
Mama can only do so much, so I missed much of Shaney's 2nd grade bash. Luckily, they just munched and socialized, but I did get this great shot of Shane's group writing projects for the holiday: their own version of the 12 Days of Christmas.
The Sabbath before Christmas, and all through the house...mom's gotta get a shot before the progeny run upstairs, throw their Sunday finery hither and yon, and clamor back down to eat processed cheese food product and crackers while settling down before the big TV screen in the basement to watch those Broncs make a respectable showing: they started Tebow! A new era dawns! Ahem. Back to Christmas.
Mom has officially given up on gingerbread houses, so we tried our hands at sleighs this year...not nearly as time-consuming nor frustrating, which means, of course, that only one child cried when the royal icing couldn't hold the sides together sufficiently to sustain the child's full body weight when applied.
I LOVE Christmas break! We were at our leisure this lovely Sabbath Day - after the aforementioned Broncos game, we had all the time in the world to construct sleighs, eat a nondescript dinner, make cookies, and snuggle in front of yet another Harry Potter film. I've waited all year for TIME, and, by jingle, we got it! 
How was it that the Outlets were not chock-full on the Monday before Christmas? Who cares? We enjoyed this mega tree...
severed a few limbs...
and saw the Big Man, all in a span of about 15 minutes, which was a rarity. I loved this particular embassador for North Pole generosity: after hearing Shane's request for more Legos, he pointedly asked if Shane wanted more Armos as well.
The gals and I headed up to Hudson Gardens in Littleton to take in the lighting spectacular, and our socks were appropriately knocked off! We've had such amazing weather this season, we only began to lose sensation in our fingers toward closing time.
Pretty tricked-out tea party design, I'm thinking.
We took in this beautiful willow, as well as another few acres of lighted gorgeousness from the seat of...
a one-horse open sleigh! Smokey was much admired by my ladies, and we really loved when he came to a dead stop on the trail in front of his trailer: when it's 9 p.m. and you've pulled Denverites around all day, it's just time to pack it in, you know? 
