The goose is getting fat

Welcome to Chez Spy, in which, apparently, the Christmas fairy has recently, to quote Cranky, womited.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care (please note Mrs. Stein’s small stocking to the far left)

And the camels are slogging through an unfamiliar ecosystem in search of a desert.

If they hang a left at the second stocking on the right, they’ll find a compatriot at the creche scene. It’s from Thailand, which explains the elephant, although not the humongous head on the first of the three kings. Perhaps he is suffering from elephantiasis.

We’ve been doing Christmas projects too. I think our gingerbread house (made from a Trader Joe’s kit for $7 and a bag of M&Ms leftover from Halloween) is particularly nice this year, don’t you? AJ and I look forward to making this every year, me for the togetherness, he for the leftover candy he gets to eat.

AJ made this tile last year in his first grade class.

And he made this in preschool. I love the manic look on his face. Frankly, if I took that approach to Christmas, I’d probably keep more of my sanity intact.

I think he looks a little like this creepy little Santa ornament I got in a Secret Santa exchange from my dad when I was 10.

Every year Mr. Spy tries to keep me from putting him on the tree, but every year, I go back and hide him in the back. Why? Because I’m afraid that if I leave him off, he will come back and attack me like Chucky.

But most of our other ornaments are nicer. This one’s my favorite.

This one was a present from my very first violin student, my friend K’s sister.

AJ and I started working on our annual Christmas puzzle a little early this year.

Here is one of AJ’s advent calendars. He’s had this one the longest, since he was three. He has been playing with the scene a lot this year. I noticed this morning that the girl has wrested the broom away from the snowman and appears to be attempting to defend herself against an invisible assailant. Perhaps creepy Santa has been visiting her too.

Here is the project AJ and I will be doing for gifts for relatives this year, stolen from Martha Stewart. I think they look quite nice in person, although in this picture, they look a little more like two lacy boobs in search of a brassiere. I think we’ll be handing these out one at a time, just to be safe.

And now, we bid you adieu. You see? Even the disembodied hand is festive. Wave to the nice people, disembodied hand!

[Check below for another post today! I am always happy to help you procrastinate! Also, if you signed up for the meme in the aforementioned post, I’ll be sending out questions tomorrow. That will give me the train ride to the opera to think about them.]