Here Comes A New Shelmet

There was a lot going on this holiday season, from visits with friends and family to far too many presents for Zoe. Before all of that got started, Zoe and I had some fun using Play-Doh to make some fashion accessories for her princesses. Cheryl took a few pictures of all the fun. After that we had a weekend visit from the Strout's. Ben and Julia are two of Zoe's favorite people, and she was super excited to open gifts with them. Apart from some time with the twins, there were hundreds of cookies made, but they didn't last very long. Following that, Nana and Poppy came up for a visit. While they were here, we made our second foray in to the wonderful world of gingerbread houses. This one wasn't a spooky, but I think more of the building pieces were consumed before they made it on to the house than the last time. Of course there were lots of presents to be had. Seriously... lots of presents. Usually the cat gets some presents too, she even has...

This weekend we met up with some friends to have a drink, listen to some live, children's music and see Santa up at Frankford Hall. It was pretty crowded, so we got in line early to see Santa. As expected, Zoe was not a huge fan and would not take a nice picture with him; however, after receiving a bag of candy, she did give him a sweet high five. Of the folks who joined us, Becky was there with Karim. She wasn't sure if she wanted to get pictures taken with Santa, but I was able to convince her that when Santa's around, and your child really doesn't know what's going on, you should seize the moment and take some pictures. I think they turned out great. Unlike Zoe, Karim seemed to be either frozen in terror or extremely bored. After taking a few cute pictures, he took a few yawners. You can see all of these pictures, and more, in the Frankford Hall set on Flickr. Not pictured here are the other interactions Zoe had while she was there. Charis came wit...

We went and picked up our Christmas tree the other day. The weather hadn't been that good the day before, so it was a bit muddy and gross, but, overall, it went really well. Like last year, we went to the lot where you can cut your own, but decided to just grab one of the pre-cut trees. Zoe picked it out and we think she picked a winner. She was a bit of a punk when it came to taking her picture, but pictures were taken all the same. We did also make it to the light show, which Zoe did seem to enjoy when we pointed out different things, but I don't think her heart was in it. I could be mistaken, but she may have been hunger, tired or both as we drove though, which would have prompted her lack of enthusiasm. Either way, you can see these pictures, plus the pictures of Zoe's own tree in the Christmas Tree set on Flickr.

Before we made it out to get our real Christmas tree, Cheryl went out and got Zoe her very own, small, faux Christmas tree. She was super excited about this and even wanted to pose with it before it was fully decorated. Here she is taking a couple of nice shots, even including her friend Jessie. She was great at putting the ornaments on herself, even if some branches were the recipient of several of them. The cluster approach is what really suited her, so who am I to judge. Besides, she gave me a kiss on the nose while I was tying the strings to her stars. We'll see what she thinks of our real tree once we get that home and decorated. Hopefully she likes it as much as her own tree.

We made our annual trip to JCPenny to get our pictures taken for the holidays. The family looked amazing in holiday outfits and sweaters and, unlike last year, Zoe was actually quite cooperative. Of course, it took an extra half hour before we had our session, which lead to Zoe examining some mannequins and generally running around, but she didn't seem to mind. They really did turn out well in general and, compared with last year, they are amazing. Not that I am completely upset about Zoe being a grump during a photo shoot, it's just nice to actually have some good pictures where all three of us are together. You'd be a fool to miss the Christmas Photoshoot set on Flickr. All of them are fantastic.

As time marches on, the times when I have a camera in hand, or even take pictures with my phone, seem to be coming less and less. This is probably a good thing, because there was a moment there was way too many pictures were being taken. It's a delicate balance of being in the moment as opposed to capturing the moment. Anyway, the camera was out the other day while Zoe was sharing a drink with Cheryl (virgin, of course), brushing her toy's hair and playing with her gems. As always, she is super cute. Zoe and I also had a chance to take advantage of our aquarium membership before it expired by driving across the Ben Franklin in to Camden. She really enjoys walking around, looking at the animals and interacting with the different displays. It was kind of funny that we happened to be right near the tank where Santa was diving in and, even behind a glass way in a tank of water, she still wanted nothing to do with him. Thankfully, we ran in to Rudolph, who she adores from h...

This year marks Zoe's third Thanksgiving and she was super excited to get to go to Mimi's House (that's what she calls it, sorry Joe Pop). Cheryl picked out a super cute dress for her to wear and, surprisingly, she was all to happy to wear it. Before we left the house she did a little modeling for us. Once we got there, Zoe was very excited to see her cousins. Before they got in to everything, we were able to sit them down and snap a couple of pictures in their holiday finery. The faces were pretty amazing. There was a ton of food to eat and, as per her usual, Zoe didn't eat all that much. She picked here and there and certainly had her fill, but she's not a big eater of things like mashed potatoes or turkey. After the meal was done, it was time for dessert, and there were plenty of cupcakes to go around. Zoe really enjoyed hers. Once the cupcakes were consumed and the faces were wiped, it was time to play. The girls all got along very well, but they...