As is tradition, we spent Christmas Eve at my parents’ house again, heading home just in time to hang stockings, put out milk and cookies, and put the kids to bed.

My parents always have a great tree for practicing taking photos next to.

My mom still goes all-out decorating for the holidays when she knows our kids will be there. It’s fun to see my kids play with the same little knick-knacks, trinkets and toys that I did as a kid.

This year we spent most of the day making an impressive array of sugar cookies, some of which would be given to neighbors or left for Santa, and many of which would be consumed by yours truly in an alarmingly short time-span.