It covered everything as far as he could see

Thanks to Emily B. and Pete for a great weekend in a snow-covered cabin!

(And a belated thanks to Ezra Jack Keats for the amazing book that I'm quoting in the title of this post.)

I was glad that Franklin's snowsuit (which was pretty roomy last year) fits perfectly this year. He was pretty happy too:


What? A river, with rocks for throwing? Yes, someone had a fun weekend.

In the Teanaway River Valley. Read about it here: friendsoftheteanaway.org.




Pete, Emily, Franklin, and Emily, looking for ice to crunch through.



And just like magic (just like a picture book?), it was snowing when we woke up Saturday morning:




Of course, the only thing he liked wearing more than the snowsuit was the KU jersey he got in his stocking on Christmas morning.

In his stocking Christmas morning, and on him for the next four days straight :)

The only time he wasn't having fun at the cabin was when he remembered that we didn't bring the dinosaur puzzle that he got for Christmas. This is within five minutes of returning home:

Thanks Magen, Dave, Braxton, Amelia, and Evan!

Oh, and if you want to brush up on dinosaur names, here's the online Picture Legend.

Speaking of Christmas presents and whatnot, here's a quick look back at the holiday:


Working on gingerbread cookies, mostly as a gift for Franklin's teachers at daycare:








Mostly:


And then it was Christmas morning:



One of his favorite presents, a forklift from Nana & Papa.



And for dinner, eye round roast, Moroccan Sweet Potatoes, deviled eggs, and more!


Hey, so did anyone happen to read that New York Times piece about Religion Without God? It hit almost exactly how I had been feeling, especially this bit:

... two anthropologists, Caroline Humphrey and James Laidlaw, go so far as to argue that ritual isn’t about expressing religious commitment at all, but about doing something in a way that marks the moment as different from the everyday and forces you to see it as important. Their point is that performing a ritual focuses your attention on some moment and deems it worthy of respect.

I had in fact been considering asking Emily to bring us to mass on Christmas, but couldn't quite get there. And the logistics were tricky...

Anyway, we settled on singing some carols together, just to make the point a little clearer:


I hope you won't mind one more quote from that article:

Atheists trust in human relations, not supernatural ones, and humans are not so good at delivering the world as it should be. Perhaps that is why we are moved by Christmas carols, which conjure up the world as it can be and not the world we know.

May the spirit of Christmas be with you, however you understand what that means.