tlinn.com: Holidays, Dec. 2007

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Plug n’ play is now an expression that applies to more than just the computers at our house. Yes, 2007 was the year we went “fake” with our Christmas tree. We opted for an 8’ “Sequoia” that, quite frankly, looked better than any real tree we’d picked out over the last 17 years. This is not to say that there wasn’t some ambivalence about our decision. We definitely missed that Christmas tree smell.
Lewis made no distinction between real and fake trees. He fully supported the idea of both. This was the year that he fully understood and embraced the concept of Christmas!

His anticipation was heightened by the fact that we picked up our new fake tree several weeks before Thanksgiving weekend, the time we traditionally erect our tree and unpack our Christmas decorations. This resulted in two weeks of intense box watching.
Although roughly the same size as the real trees of Christmases past, we soon realized that the fake one held more ornaments – a lot more ornaments. This suited Lewis just fine as his will to hang ornaments would outlast our supply of them by no small margin. We ended up making a run to Target where The Boy got to pick out several more boxes. His taste turned out to be a little more eclectic than that of The Parents.

I turned down the lights to get these shots of The Boy hanging the last few ornaments.

Knowing The Boy’s longstanding love of trains, Papa T provided him with a nice train set. Knowing Papa T, it was no surprise that it was a Budweiser train set. Papa T had actually given it to Lewis a year earlier but, not wanting to see it get wrecked, we left it in the box. This was the first time it was actually put into service. The Boy was pleased.

Snow arrived along with the first official week of winter. Although this was hardly unprecedented, this year was different: I had a helper.

After years of using digital compacts, The Mom finally agreed that she needed a “big” camera. For anyone keeping track, this is a certain mom’s third digital camera.

Darla’s first shots with the new camera were this series capturing the many moods of The Boy at breakfast. Apparently, waffles make him fierce.
And happy.
And a little camera shy.
A bit nonchalant about finishing his breakfast.
And somewhat pensive.

Darla and I picked up a new computer desk for Gigi and Papa. Assembly was required and there was no shortage of volunteers to take on the task.

Fans of the original Pink Panther movies, the ones with Peter Sellers, may recall that Inspector Clouseau had a manservant named Cato Fong. Whenever Inspector Clouseau returned home, Cato was always hiding somewhere in the apartment waiting to attack him – presumably to keep the inspector sharp.

I’ve adopted this routine with The Boy. Whenever he comes home and I’m already there, I will be lying in wait for him somewhere in the house. However, the tables are turned on weekend mornings. I lie in bed never sure if or when to expect a surprise attack. On this particular morning, The Mom was present to capture the event with her camera.

It was spring of 2006 when The Boy wandered through the garage and noticed the “red tractor”. When was I going to use it? Was winter a long way off? From then on, the red tractor became a topic of conversation whenever I was working in or around the garage.

When winter finally arrived, The Boy was ready for The Red Tractor Show. Unfortunately for him, the winter of 2006 was the mildest we’d experienced in our eleven years in Bend. There was not a single snowfall worthy of firing up the snow blower.

As December of 2007 arrived, hope was again restored that he would get to see the red tractor, now the red snow blower, in action. In the final week of December, his hope was realized. In fact, in the following 30 days this hope would be realized again and again as nearly four feet of snow accumulated. The Boy was even able to drive the snow blower himself – with a little assistance from The Dad.