Zoolights

Christmas lights + zoo = amazing.

Sadly I don't think we saw any real animals...

Holidays...

The Arizona break has been exactly what I needed.  Warm weather, relaxing, continued dog drama...Also managed to mangle her ear in a rose bush resulting in emergency veterinary care (stitches, bandages, a cone).  She is coping surprisingly well, but we could have done without the whole charade.

Sadly, I did not bring my sewing machine, so I have been doing some knitting.  I did find a forgotten stash of batting at the house, so I will be able to finish some of the million quilt tops waiting in Lincoln. 

Little Angel Also with her "halo" also referred to as an Elizabethan Collar in our instruction manual. 

Fortunately the cone does not get in the way of Maybe and Also's loving relationship...

With all members of the family now 21, we had numerous booze themed gifts, including these beers matched to the personality of each recipient.  Classy.

Settlers of Catan is an epic board game.  With a novel length rule book, no one really knows how to play, so cheating abounds. 

The tree Christmas morning...

I did some creative wrapping.  This rodent-reindeer-vampire was for my brother...

He was attacked while unwrapping but should survive.

Home Sweet Home

After only 22 hours in the car the dogs and I arrived in Arizona to spend the holidays with the entire family...I left my sewing machine in Nebraska, so binding quilts and knitting cowls will have to suffice until 2012.

For everyone who worries about who slept in their bed at a hotel, it might have been these two if you are in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Flagstaff looming in the distance...

Whenever Betsy (the GPS) announced an upcoming turn, Also got very agitated thinking "who is this bitch?"

The ever classy white Christmas tree.  Very fitting for a desert Christmas.

Holiday art courtesy of my Grandma, possibly the most festive human on earth. 

Check out the M with the ice skating elves holding hands...

Real flowers to compliment the fake tree.

Stockings and trees.

Tinsel tree.

Maybe and Also are so excited to spend approximately 23 hours per day on their couch...