A wonderful weekend

It is an awesome weekend in December when...

...after discovering that most of our lights from last year no longer work and not being able to hang them anyway because the roof is covered with ice and snow, and after spending a bit too much money on an inflatable Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and over-sized solar-powered light bulbs that stick into the ground and tubes of red lights to wrap around the pillars of our front porch, our outside Christmas decorating is finally done.  And it was done before the rain (yes, rain) came.

...the aforementioned decorating is done by the hubs while I play with the kids in the snow.  In hopes that the kids would want to sledride, we dragged out the sleds.  Cort didn't want to because he didn't want to go fast.  He wanted to shovel the sidewalk and driveway instead.  Um, ok.  Deal.  (In actuality, he mostly shoveled the yard, because it was much easier.)  I took Everly down the hill in the sled, which was met with an immediate, "Moe."  So around and around we went...down the sidewalk, the driveway, up the not-so-steep hill, and then down the steeper hill of our front yard.

...I get to spend a nice couple of hours with some great friends from aerobics and the most delicious spinach bisque soup.  And chocolate raspberry tart.  And eggnog. 

...we get to have dinner with some of my favorite people prior to driving through an amazing display of lights, made much more entertaining by the text messaging occuring between the two cars.  The kids loved the lights.  The tunnels were Cort's favorite.  Everything was Ev's favorite, at least when asked in the form of yes or no questions.  (Were the teddy bears your favorite?  Desss. Did you like the tunnels best? Dessss.)

...I remember most of the lyrics to some old faves when singing at the top of my lungs with some great friends in their basement.  Hello, Violent Femmes.  I had almost forgotten about you.  Hello, again, Eddie Vedder.  I could never forget about you.

...the house is filled with the smells of nine dozen peppermint chocolate cookies baking on a Sunday afternoon.  And I did it with the help of my little baking buddy, who couldn't have been more excited to dump the ingredients into the mixer and watch it go around.

Loving these moments.