Holidays, Kid Dates, and Catering Duty.

Seth came home on Monday, with a giant deceased buck in tow, and the reception was nothing short of epic.

Of course, these were the family members who didn't have to clean deer parts off the driveway, but point taken.

They were also the two who started gymnastics Wednesday night:

called occasional truces:

discovered Christmas Nutella:

and got to write letters to Santa at the Club. (Notably, they both asserted "I've been good." Hmmppph. Debatable.)

Friday was the USASOC holiday party, which included guns, Santa, and

the Very Famous T-24 Weasel. Which obviously impressed Finley.

The rainy but epic daytime party was followed by- because holidayoverload- an adults-only social, at which we inexplicably (thank you, Natalie) wound up on kitchen duty. Which turned out to be the best part of the night.

And then it was time to Beat Navy. The Ryans threw a rager, which may not have had the intended effect on the score, but which did involve kid sports,

cookie decorating,

sword fights,

fire pits,

and the illicit and ravenous consumption of two entire boxes of donuts (meant for breakfast).

We did not, our efforts notwithstanding, beat Navy.

But still had Christmas lights to put up Sunday (here, Ford is watching both of his parents on one very shaky ladder),

plus a Nutcracker showing to attend (I accidentally got tickets to the NC State Ballet instead of the Moscow Ballet showing, and we didn't mind the downgrade a bit),

and a kid date night

that included shopping and makeup sampling (for Fin and I),

and shooting and bowling (for the boys).

It was  a lovely respite before the holiday craziness started, made even better by this epic night (and my favorite photo of the week): football, a fire, Aunt Carol's beautiful quilt, an off-camera glass of pinot noir, and a "not tired" Ford with his Secret Santa gift

(who fell asleep about ten seconds later.)

Cheers to the holidays! It seems they are upon us.