Did you know that Santa drives a 1906 Cadillac? Pretty nice. This year we met four Santas, and the very best one was the Santa at the car museum in Tacoma. Santa even played along with Joseph making silly faces. One of Santa's helpers stage-whispered that there were "C-O-O-K-I-E-S" downstairs. JoeJoe smiled. "餅乾." Can't spell out secrets around this guy. Mrs. Claus gave Joseph two vouchers for the remote control car race track. (One for Paul, I suppose.) Merry, merry Christmas!

Swansons Nursery! Best holiday fun in town. And free too, as long as I resist buying their beautiful plants. Feeding Curly the camel some bread.

Joseph is really into elevators these days, so we visited Seattle's tallest building, Columbia Tower, with its 76 floors. There's an observatory on the 73rd floor, but I wasn't spending $15 on looking out the window when there was a perfectly exciting (and free) view from the Starbucks on the 40th floor. We did ride the elevators up and down a bunch of times. Building security must have thought we were nuts. The building from the ground.

When I wasn't looking, Paul scooted backward and grabbed a hold of Joseph's treasured marble run. The marble run toppled, Joseph screamed, and that was the beginning of a big change for this relationship. Happy 7 months old, Paul.

F is for firefighter! Ladder 6 visited Joseph's preschool and showed the kids their tools and gear. Everyone got a turn with the fire extinguisher and received an official firefighter badge. Best day EVER at school (even better than cookie-baking day). Demonstrating a fireman's carry with a brave volunteer.

The countdown begins on our Joseph-made advent calendar. Instead of toys and treats, we're doing holiday activities for each day.