I do realize that my audience of people who truly care about this story is very, very limited....but, here it is anyway.
I got the train I the kids wanted.
We had some leftover polyfill from one of Julien's school projects and as is typical of me, I decided to put some crappy craft skills to work.
I thought I might as well stage the scene for Thomas and Santa and it only briefly crossed my mind that the massive amount of snow under the tree might be somewhat problematic for our cats.
Julien, Addie and I walked through the door from work/school/wrestling and as I was taking off my shoes, I heard Julien say, "Oh my god Mom, the cat threw up!".
I walked into the kitchen and noticed the obvious, there was vomit EVERYWHERE!
On the floor, kitchen chair(s) and all over three of the curtains on the windows.
I can't tell you how massive the clean-up was, not to mention the dry cleaning bill for the curtains.
I told my best friend that it looked like a grown man had broken into our house and vomited all over my kitchen.
So...one vet bill, one dry cleaning bill and one ruined manicure later, I vacuumed up all the snow from under the tree.
Lesson learned.
Each year, we always buy ornaments for the tree that represent how we feel about our lives at that moment.
We usually will also go to some crafty store and make ornaments for the tree, but that just didn't happen this year.
This year, we stuck to Hallmark.
Julien must know a lot more than he's telling, because this is the ornament he chose this year:
Addie just looked at ornament after ornament after ornament, so Julien and I decided that this was the best representation of Addie (at that moment).
I know it looks all cute and cuddly and all, but he's still a Gremlin.
Sweet one minute and wreaking havoc the next.
Chris and I chose this one without a second thought.
This couldn't be any more perfect for our family.
