Tall Boy Sighting

So we celebrated the tall boy's nineteenth birthday last week -- along with Thanksgiving. His actual big day was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. He arrived home from Catholic University that day; after a steak dinner with the family followed by the requested birthday apple pie, he was kidnapped by Coleen's tall boy, and I didn't see him until the next morning.

What kind of party games did they play? Well, let's just say that the two tall boys' motto is, "what happens at the sleepover stays at the sleepover."

Because Thanksgiving intruded, we didn't have our big family birthday celebration until the weekend, when my folks took us out to lunch. We love these family dinners!

The tall boy loves his grandmothers . . .

. . . .the fantastically funny, quirky, and adventurous Grandma Donna . . .

. . . and the elegant but photo-phobic Grandma Carol, who is my mom's emissary to ensure that their grandchildren are spoiled and adored properly.

But the tall boy will tell anyone who asks that his all-time absolute hero is his Grandpa.

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And behind door number three of our Advent calendar is this lovely little carousel book, which displays images that illustrate the lyrics to the Christmas carol, "Away in a Manger." Have you seen these carousel books? You display them so that they look like a series of diaramas -- but way prettier than the ones we used to make out of shoe boxes! The actual title of this book is Away in a Manger: A Christmas Carousel Book.

Here's how it looks when it's set up. We love this song, and we love this book -- still part of our Christmas decorating tradition!