christmas, eye infections, and name wars

well, here i am...i told you i would be! i finally got pictures onto my computer and am about to share them all with you. as you all know, and if you don't-you're seriously living under a rock or in iran or something, it was christmas a little more than a week ago. i know its redundant because everyone says it, and if they don't, well you know...anywho, christmas is pretty much the best time of year and my favorite by far. i love the weather, the smell of fires emanating from chimneys, christmas trees, lights, decorations, etc. it was also pretty exciting to have a kid who actually semi knew what was going on. by semi, i mean that he was aware of all the extra family around and the fact that santa looks like grandpa used to. he also didn't mind the fact that he scored several things with wheels and obnoxious sound effects. good times. one factor that made this holiday even more special was the "arctic freeze of 2008." special might not be the word that a lot of people would use to describe this particular weather phenomenon, because it caused some travelling issues, but the fact that western washington was blanketed with cold, white stuff made for a pretty stellar, white christmas. here are some pictorial highlights of the thomas family holiday.


ridin' the tractor with grandpa

mr. scrooge himself directing the decoating efforts on the front porch. what a good sport

luke really enjoyed imitating a marshmallow in his snowsuit get-up as well as sampling the christmas goodies that grandpa so lovingly shared with him. now i'm sure you're all wondering what the eye infection part of the title refers to. well, pictures speak a thousand words, or at least, in this case, explain what i meant. feel free to say it...poor luke--

no, there isn't anything wrong with his mouth...that was just the chocolate that gram gave him because we all felt sorry for him in his cyclops state.

finally, last but not least--the battle of the names has begun, well it actually began when we discovered the bun in the oven was a female, but it has continued. we (or i, i should say) have narrowed it down to two names.

lola or nora

now i know that there are a few of you who have attitude concerning the first option and its ties to a certain hispanic prostitute. let me address your concerns by stating that i was reading people magazine and there were three celebrities with daughters named lola...not one of them being hispanic. one was african-american, but none of them lived a double-life as a "woman of the night." there is also a rather annoying, but nonetheless existing cartoon on the disney channel that is titled "charlie and lola." no, it isn't a show about drug abuse among children. its actually an educational children's show about a pair of curious, blonde, british siblings. just because a band in the 70's decided to use the name in a song about a certain rendevous in a drinking establishment doesn't mean that the name should be contaminated forever. i mean, what about lola the showgirl, who conquered her fears and sang in front of a crowd? alright, off the soapbox. just let me know what you think by commenting here or answering the poll in the right column. the middle name is jean if that helps narrow it down for you.

happy new year and thanks for the help in advance!