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It must be Redwings season. This afternoon another super cute knit bear arrived for Harriet. My mother-in-law knits while cheering on the Redwings. She been cranking out cute striped bears.
When introduced Harriet’s instinct kicked in. She mauled him. 
Inspected him.
Hugged him.
Their relationship was going a little too fast for her. He began getting in her personal space.
But they made up.
Win was sitting on his bead reading one of his favorite books when he asked me to hand him his new bear. He then properly arranged the bear so that he could ’see’ the book too, and continued reading.
My mother-in-law is an amazing knitter, in fact she is an amazing crafter. She’s always working on a new project every time that I see her. She is one of those people who doesn’t have specific craft that she has majored in. She’ll do anything, fast and beautifully. Lately she’s been knitting a lot. Capitalizing on this, I gave her a very self-serving gift for Christmas. I gave her a book of instructions for knitting toys that my friend Jen recommended.Yesterday the mailman showed up at the door with a package. And getting packages is one of my favorite things! Inside the box was this amazing knit bear for Winfield. I can’t believe that she finished it already! It’s beautiful and ridiculously cute. Win has been toting it around this morning. He even put it in the highchair and ‘fed’ it breakfast. I love the expression on his face. He looks satisfied.
This picture of Harriet is pretty cute. She’s sitting on her Aunt Janna’s lap and looking at cousin Chloe. She’s really smiley and this picture really captures her look.
Luke LOVES Harriet. Even over Thanksgiving he would run over to her and pet and kiss her every time that she woke up from a nap. In this picture he is giving her one of his precious cuddles while his older sister Chloe holds her. Chloe wasn’t quite in the moment like Luke was.
Win and Harriet’s cousins LOVE visiting Grandpa Goose and Grandma Jan’s house. It’s like kid heaven. They have toys, a big bathtub, beds to jump on in the basement, a model train that chugs around the Christmas tree and usually plenty of cousins for playmates.Here’s Chloe focusing on giving color to a Hello Kitty book.
She got blue nail polish in her stocking. She was very careful with her nails all week-something that I have yet to learn how to do.
This is Ezra, the 5-year-old and oldest of the cousins. He is a real sweetie who loves to play with his 4-year-old sister Eden.
Kiah, who is almost a year older than Win, had fun making a little snowman and throwing snowballs.
Win and Luke had a battle of wits over Connect 4. I think that black player is winning.
It appears as if the Connect 4 needed a little bulldozing.
This rare image was taken by Grandpa Goose.
Every year, in celebration of Christmas Eve, Jared’s family gathers for a fondue feast. The menu is the same every year. This year we started dinner after all of the little kids were in bed. Boiling pots of oil and lots of young children don’t safely mix. We enjoyed sitting around the table laughing at the same stories that are told every year, like the time that Jared’s older brother Jamie spilled flaming plum pudding on Jared. We even called Jamie, who couldn’t make it for Christmas this year, on the telephone to give him the opportunity to deny the event (another yearly tradition). This picture captures some of the coziness of this yearly meal. 