Christmassing

Here are the pictures from yesterday's graveyard walk. 

The real treat, something I've never seen before: Gravestones made to look like lumber, a huge industry here in, Francisco tells me, the 1870s to 90s. 

The last name was even sometimes carved to look like a font made of branches (above and below). 

Did I mention it was raining? 

This morning my brother's family came down. They come with a full engines blaring. I suspect that was a mixed metaphor; I don't know quite how to capture it. But with five adults to 6 children we did okay for 2.5 hours; not sure how #1tomatolover does it the rest of the time. 

My nephews brought me pictures they colored! They enthusiastically cracked nuts and shared them with me. They played with Nana's sparkly brown slime creatively. They played with all of the toys--they were most excited when they found a bird's egg in a nest on the Christmas tree. They were convinced it was a dino egg and that if they tried hard enough, they could get it open (it is made of wood). They are incredible with visual-spacial abilities (because my father works in psychology, this is how we think about kids). Nana made them their favorite--waffles--and they breathed down a hundred. 

My nieces and nephews are the absolute best and I'm so lucky whenever I get to see them, and I may need to sleep for the rest of the day.