Hi Ho, HoHo

Today we took a trip to the mall with some friends from our homeschool group. We stopped in at Santa's workshop to hear storytime, then took a few pictures. This Santa was wonderful - much better than the one we went to see last week. I was even allowed to snap a few pictures with my own camera. Emma did pretty well on his lap. Still no smiles, but she didn't seem as scared, and she was downright fascinated with his beard!

After Santa we had lunch with friends and walked the mall. We saw a Dicken's -- I mean a Chicken's Christmas puppet show. Too bad my camera wasn't ready to capture the Goats of Christmas Past.

Hannah invited her friend Tracy to join us. We were at the mall for four hours and Emma never once made it into her stroller. Between all the teenagers in our group there were plenty of arms itching for a turn to hold the baby!

Our last stop was Scrooge's Tower. Scrooge always picks one person from the audience to interact with and "pick on". Today he chose Hayden. Hayden wasn't quite sure what to make of him, but he did a good job! In the end, Scrooge gave him an autographed picture.

Tomorrow we are getting together with more homeschool friends to decorate gingerbread houses. I plan to wake early, sing Happy Birthday to Emma, then hold her close and weep deeply that our very first year is over. I feel ample tears will be shed by ten, and that I can take a short break in the sob fest to decorate some gingerbread. There will be plenty of candy at the party, and nothing goes with great sadness like chocolate and peppermint. I will sugar medicate and be home by noon with a fresh batch of tears. It's going to be a really great day. :)