Xmas with the Nephews

We spent the holiday with my middle sis (who will be called J1) and her family in MA, driving up Christmas Eve and returning home today.

One of the highlights of the visit was making cookies -- J2 made sugar cookies, which he rolled out of red and green dough that he made into a log and then cut; and I brought some gingerbread cookie mix (I wanted to go from scratch but decided that would just take too much time) and cookie cutters. Despite some problems with getting the icing to flow, making cookies with the kids was a blast. Their ideas about decoration were kind of sketchy, but it really doesn't matter, right? It's the having fun that counts. The next day we all went to the neighbors' houses and gave them plates of cookies.

The boys are six and three, and were very excited about Santa's visit -- J1 and J2 pulled the NORAD Santa website up, and there was a moment of panic when the boys thought they wouldn't be able to clean the living room up and that Santa would therefore skip their house. They know that other people get them presents, though, since the tree had gifts from various relatives. I guess I have mixed feelings about lying to kids about Santa... It's traditional, but doesn't it ultimately undermine a kid's trust in their parents? Does it really matter, ultimately?

Btw, S., they're very much enjoying the birthday presents you sent. They had a video clip of the kids saying "thank you" that they were going to send, but for some reason the sound disappeared.