But, for now, an unedited 2.5-hour gift-opening experience this morning compressed into under 2 minutes. If the video below doesn’t show up, you can view it on YouTube here.

Merry Christmas!

Carson came home a week or so after Thanksgiving talking about how he needed to leave food out to attract an elf. His first concoction (Cheerios and a chocolate bar) didn’t take, but he got additional guidance from his friends the next day, and, on his second attempt, an elf indeed appeared the following morning. “Elfy” has moved around every night since — showing up on a light fixture, high on some shelves, or perched atop a dresser. Carson’s first task every morning (or second…sometimes he tackles the next door on the Lego action figure advent calendar he got for his birthday first) is to find Elfy.

Apparently, these magic elves are a fairly common tradition — read about them more here.

We hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday and a healthy and happy 2010!

My apologies if the video doesn’t play — click through on the image if you’re viewing this in e-mail and you should get to see it. You might have to turn the volume up a bit.

They brought their dog, Petey (or “Petey the Flatulent” as he will be known henceforth and forthwith — an unfortunate side effect of some antibiotics he was on). Petey is part cat, in that he enthusiastically chased the boys’ laser pointers across the carpet. Overall, all three dogs did well, although there was one minor scuffle between Molly and Elwyn shortly before they departed. Molly was rewarded with 6 hours in her crate and subsequent ignoring by Alpha (Julie) for several hours after she was released.

Julie decreed that we go on a Christmas afternoon death march. The picture below was the most positive that the three kids were about the outing…and this was before we loaded up the car to drive over to the trail. Alana had a meltdown prior to the walk, and Benton opted to hang back and quietly mope most of the time.

By the evening, all three kids were back in a good mood. Sufficiently fine spirits that, when Alana and Carson wound up on Benton’s bed, Julie let herself be talked into letting all three of them camp out in Benton’s room. She was talked into this a good 1.5 hours after their bedtime, so you may be able to guess whether this arrangement actually stuck.

45 minutes after the above photo was taken, all kids were sent back to their respective beds. It was a doomed plan from the get-go.

At school, Benton had a multi-week “heritage” project. He chose Poland and did quite a bit of research, which resulted in the following display:

On the same day that Benton’s class presented their projects, Carson’s class made gingerbread houses.

As for me, I spent some time straightening up my home office over the holidays, which resulted in a clean, flat work surface. Approximately 30 seconds after said straightening was completed, Benton’s and Carson’s projects appeared on it to fill it up. I think Julie finds me more attractive when my face is red and there is a bulging vein on my forehead.