For the first time in many years I really enjoyed Christmas. I was a little sad when it was over. I took Preston and Connor to Santa Cruz on one of those days and we had a great time. Connor is over so much these days he feels like a member of the family. We're all remarkably harmonious together. Of course Preston and I fought over stupid things along the way, but Connor slipped effortlessly into peacemaker by starting conversations to distract us. He's a natural.

One of the nights before Christmas we made sugar cookies and decorated them with different colored icing. The boys took time from video games and we sat around the kitchen table with ziploc pastry bags of icing, decorating the cookies we cut into shapes of stars, Christmas trees, angels, and gingerbread men. When we were done we looked over each other's work and laughed at the sloppy imperfectness of it all. We didn't want to eat them, but of course the will to stop us didn't last.

We all agreed after Christmas had passed that decorating the cookies was actually one of the highlights. Funny how such simple things leave a lasting impression.