She loves rocking chairs

Mary Alice LOVES rocking chairs. So much so, that she will climb into them anytime she is by one - even if they are occupied at the time.... and even if they are occupied by the somewhat unpredictable older brother.

Lucky for her, he was engrossed by the mesmerizing Curious George at the time.

The BIG guy

Here are the Bradshaw sisters, who braved the cold winter weather and irritable Christmas shoppers to take their nephew and niece to see Santa Claus.



While the line to see Santa was surprisingly short, we were dismayed to find that we couldn't take any pictures of the kiddies on the Big Guy's lap unless we wanted to pay an obscene amount of money for a poorly shot keychain photo taken by some impertinent young lady dressed as an elf.

But it didn't matter, since Tom wouldn't go anywhere near the red-decked jolly man once we got up to see him and Mary Alice simply had a staring contest with him.


But once Tom realized the kind of opportunity he had missed, he grew quite worried! After all, who else was going to get him a train for Christmas?!?

Lucky for him, Mr. Claus happens to be in good with his grandparents and usually stops by on Christmas Eve to wish them a Merry Christmas!

So, here is Santa Claus... take two.



This time around, Mary Alice was the one who wasn't so confident.


And Tom was a bit tongue-tied.

But he threw in a hug for good measure.






And by the end of the photo session, Tom was all sorts of smiles... (albeit a bit disturbed that Santa's conveyance could be measured in horse-power rather than reindeer-power.)

A bit too much like her father...

This is what happens when Mom takes a nap and Dad watches the kids and the big game all at the same time.


P.S. Its only rootbeer....