Hanukkah (Part II)

We your family lives far away there is absolutely nothing wrong with adding a 9th night to Hanukkah. The menorah wouldn't accommodate, but if you drink enough wine before lighting the candles, it's hard to count them anyway. Gathering with the family allowed the kids to participate some historic reenactment - pyramid building - a traditional Hanukkah activity.


I would be remiss if I did not apologize for tainting the festivities by my children stealthily (and entirely unknowingly) transmitting a rather vicious stomach bug to half of Baltimore. Sorry about that, everyone.

The Value of Toys

Ben loves his toys. Really he does. But you can see from these pictures to our friends' house in DC that it really takes very little to entertain children. Darcy and Ben tossed balls through this cat door for a very long time. It would have been longer if only one of them could have reached the ball after it dropped down a few steps. Instead they just looked through the hole at the balls they had lost and then looked at us, to them just the "long-arms who also give us snacks", and said "Ball. In there." It's as if they wanted us to get the ball out of the hole so they could do it again. Now that I think about it - maybe the cat door wasn't the game. Maybe WE were the game.

I've been played.

Merry Christmas!

I thought I should post some Christmas pictures at least before Ben's birthday. It turns out that I don't have so many pictures from Christmas. It must be because I was so busy having a great time that I neglected to properly document the occasion.You can see here the Pusey family gathered for a lovely Christmas dinner. The Abelows were at the other end of the table, except for Ben who prefers to sit under the table. We decided that this was not the moment to enforce table manners. Besides, who needs table manners if you're not at the table? Right?


After the dinner we began Phase I of III of present opening. This Christmas we learned that when you move away people miss you and buy you more gifts. Think about whether this incentive well thought out.

While sitting on the chair upon which no actual human has ever sat, Ollie ponders, "I wonder how long it will take my people to open these presents so I can play with the ribbons."





Uncle Mikey with Ben, Juliana, and Gavi. Those of you who have not seen us in a while should take note that this is my brother Mike, not the husband Mike. Distant relatives sometimes get confused. People who know us would find this incredibly funny.