Arizona

I don't have any pics yet, because I forgot to bring my cord that goes from the camera to the computer, but I wanted to give you a little update on our trip. Before we left, I'd been feeling stressed and very unprepared to leave town 2 weeks before Christmas, but now that we are here, we're having a blast. We have some great friends from college who live in Phoenix, AZ, but they have partial ownership in a cabin in a teeny town outside of Flagstaff, which is further north and MUCH higher altitude. So, we are up here with a few families from college that could squeeze into the cabin. There are 7 kids so far and 2 more coming tonight.

Last night we had a special treat and the local Santa Claus came TO THE HOUSE! It was a melee of joyful chaos. He came around to cabins that had signed up, arriving on the local fire truck, decorated in Christmas lights and sirens blaring. Carson. Was. Ecstatic. He led the pack onto the porch and was yelling and jumping and pointing: "IT'S SANTA! IT'S SANTA! IT'S SANTA!" The surprise was pretty special for everyone, and SC came in to say hi to all the kids and brought them a little stocking of candy and a teddy bear. (Pics to come, obviously.)

Sydney, on the other hand, was not remotely impressed. When everyone jumped up and ran to the porch, she stretched out on the couch with her Pinky Minky and sucked on her fingers, staring in the opposite direction. When everyone came back in with Santa, they were all gathered around him, and Syd stayed lounged on the couch, barely even giving SC and the Mrs. a second look. It was actually pretty funny to see the contrast of the bigger kids total elation and giddy excitement and Sydney's complete apathy. She DID express her opinion when we had Santa hold her for a picture, and let's just say she was not pleased.

It was a special little memory for our trip--just had to share!