The boys had an eventful day today that involved a Christmas tree and a snowman. A quintessential December day.

First up: The snowman. Mary had a social outing today, so when the boys got up from their naps, we suited up and headed out into the surprisingly warm -- and subsequently messy -- afternoon. Edward said he wanted to build a snow firetruck complete with ladders and hoses, but settled for a plain old snowman. When we had finished with that, complete with charcoal eyes and a carrot nose, Edward declared that he was going to knock it down. My pride was too powerful, and I declared that this would not be happening. So, we built another snowman (less flashy, and given its intended purpose, intentionally more wobbly) that the boys could topple.


The results of this destruction, scattered across the back yard, were quickly adapted into a car, and then a train (see the video). I was even able to convince Daniel that an adjacent lump of snow was the back seat, so both boys actually played on it with out incident for five minutes or better.

Bookending this was the decorating of our Christmas tree. First, an admission: Our tree is crooked. It didn't look that way at the lot, but after considerable effort to get it to stand up straight in the tree stand, we took a closer look and realized that about a foot up the trunk, it takes a noticeable left turn that gives the tree a mean lean. We aimed it toward the wall and are hoping for the best. Mary put on lights while the boys napped. Daniel was first up, and as I carried him downstairs, he caught sight of it in the living room. "That's fancy, daddy!" he exclaimed. I was able to capture his second reaction on video.

After we came back inside from our snow adventure and Mary returned, she and the boys put ornaments on the tree. Yes, they actually helped, though we did have to redistribute a bit because they were clustering the ornaments in bunches along the bottom-most branches. They seemed to enjoy it, though, as with everything else, their attention was soon diverted and they moved on to something else.


Here's the video: First up, Daniel and the tree, followed by some creative use of snow piles: