The Olson Times: Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year...

Merry Christmas and a happy new year! I can't believe I'm sitting down to blog and it's been exactly a month since I've posted on here... I understand if I've lost any and all faithful blog readers. I have failed. But alas, I'm making an effort to start out strong this new year, with a little review from last month (or the month before...)

I honestly can't believe this season has come and gone...again! Every single last cliche' that people throw out there about time going faster as you get older, kids growing in the blink of an eye, babies growing up before our eyes, etc., etc. are true! I absolutely love this stage that our kiddos are at and it has been a blast experiencing Christmas with them, but it all happened TOO fast.

We chopped down our Christmas tree. We drove around and looked at Christmas lights. We made cookies, and sent out Christmas cards. We counted down to Jesus' birthday with our advent calendar, and the list goes on and on and on... but I swear it all came and went faster than it ever has! And yet, I'm sitting here with a peaceful resolve that this season {and year} has come to an end as I anticipate the new year before us and all the exciting adventures it holds.

I'll admit it, it might be that I get a little too into the organizational excitement of January. It's time to make sure everything in the house has a place (which is getting harder and harder these days...) and we've weened ourselves of as much clutter as possible. Whatever it is, I'm welcoming this new year with open arms.

Now for the old stuff... I {seriously} drug these pictures to my blog folder nearly a month ago and now I'm just sharing them.

Oops.

In true Lambert fashion, we gathered the whole gang and headed out to the Christmas tree farm while Jess and David were still in town and chopped down a few Nobles. They smelled delicious; we somehow missed the rain, and the hot chocolate was just enough to warm every little soul that came along for the ride.

Fabulous memories, one Christmas tree at a time...

I understand Em, Santas can be a little creepy sometimes...

So, I'll say it... we're not huge Santa fans.

(gasp).

I don't dislike the guy, ~~although in my honest opinion many of them are sort of creepers~~ (I probably shouldn't have said that aloud), we've just never desired to have it be the main focus of the Christmas season. Obviously, he's everywhere, and we don't desire for our kids to be that kid (or Chandler - a little Friends shout-out ;) who ruins it for every other 2nd grade child as he/she blurts out that Santa isn't real, but we also don't stand in line for 3 hours to pay a ridiculous amount of money to get our children's picture taken with Santa every year.

However, despite our "downplay" of Santa, Madelyn took a liking to him like non-other this year. Go figure. She spotted him left and right and told us all about how he was real. It was quite comical, and frankly, I was shocked that this guy didn't scare the bejeebers out of her, but he didn't!

So... here's our Santa pictures, and we'll try not to ruin it for your kid! ;)

{On a side note, I never believed in Santa and I also never ruined it for anyone else. I honestly didn't realize that so many people did think he was real until I was an adult and I heard of the many, many traumatic stories about finding out he wasn't "real". My mom and dad always pretended to be Santa and we thought it was silly, but that was about the extent of it. And I live to tell about it...}