With both his Santa visit AND the bulk of our shopping behind us, Miles has now, like Moses descending Mt. Sinai, handed down his Christmas list. At least his expression meets the moment. And the "little bit" naughty descriptor suggests a degree of self-awareness and, hopefully, penitence.
Tag: Christmas
Year 5, Day 291
When cookie decorating looks like an active crime scene. Dear Lord...
Year 5, Day 289
One of the great achievements of modern society is the normalization of Santa visits at breweries. Maybe not the overwhelmingly obvious choice to past generations, these Sunday brunches have solved the age-old problem of "needing to take the child to visit Santa but also Daddy needs a drink." Brewers at 4001 Yancey was our destination … Continue reading Year 5, Day 289
Year 5, Day 288
Today we took a trip to At Home, a store I've only ever been to once before, to pick up some Christmas decorations. I was looking for a couple unrelated things and honestly wasn't sure I'd find them there or not, so Jaclyn agreed to keep an eye on Miles while I set out alone … Continue reading Year 5, Day 288
Year 5, Day 287: Reassessing a Christmas Classic
With Christmas fast approaching, our standing Family Movie Night has been commandeered by holiday films. While Miles is watching some of these on his own (at, say, six in the morning, like this one), I wanted to make sure we took the time to sit down and enjoy some of these as a family. I'll … Continue reading Year 5, Day 287: Reassessing a Christmas Classic
Year 5, Day 285
We only recently made our annual trip to Hallmark to pick out some new Christmas ornaments (an activity that typically happens a little earlier in the year), and we all definitely found decorations that spoke to us... But which ones spoke to WHOM? See if you can figure out the parties responsible for each selection … Continue reading Year 5, Day 285
Year 5, Day 281
This evening, we headed over to downtown Huntersville (we are locals now, and should probably act more like it) for the town Christmas festival. Featuring outdoor vendors, carnival rides (that, of course, Miles liked the idea of more than the actual riding of), and, thankfully, beer vendors, it was a nice way for us to … Continue reading Year 5, Day 281
Year 5, Day 277
There aren't many uniquely Martin family Christmas traditions, but there is one long-standing holiday standard which, I discovered only a couple years ago, has muddied origins but is still something we all, in our own homes, carry on to this day. I tried to explain this to Miles. Did he understand the assignment? ELNO! Let … Continue reading Year 5, Day 277
Year 5, Day 275
Miles and I set up the Christmas tree today, and afterwards I wanted to get a nice picture standing in front of it. He had, after all, played a significant part in decorating it for the first time, and I wanted to commemorate the moment. He agreed to it, but insisted that he take my … Continue reading Year 5, Day 275
Year 5, Day 274: Name that Movie!
Miles has a limited awareness of movies at his age. Sometimes he'll find something on his own (he's watched the new Blue's Big City Adventure movie about five times since it dropped on Wednesday, for instance) and sometimes I'll show him a trailer for an upcoming movie that he becomes completely set on watching (next … Continue reading Year 5, Day 274: Name that Movie!
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 