We always head to northern lower Michigan to celebrate a late Christmas and an on-time New Years with my Godmother. It's a trip we look forward to immensely for the silliness, serenity, and snow. Weather is weird this year, and we thought we were out of luck on that last bullet point, but nature delivered just as we were looking to head home, and we got an extra day out of that timing. As for the other two wish list items—silliness is no problem, but serenity is always at an arm's length with a five-year-old. Still, two out of three isn't bad.
More Christmas? Such a lucky boy. Look at those wonderful penguins.
Blue (the dog, not the Christmas)
Sleepy-heads
A cherry-berry pie from Jesperson's in Petoskey, photo taken five—literally five—minutes after we got home with it, still warm from their heavenly ovens.
The bushes were masquerading as dog/bear/snow/burlap people so Jack Frost (and possibly the deer) wouldn't recognize them. I was thoroughly fooled.
Jon and I got some of that serenity we were looking for by heading out the store for some last-minute necessities on New Year's Eve. To extend it a bit we walked, and we also added a few things to list of "necessities" that took us not only to the grocery store, but also into our favorite quaint little town, Harbor Springs. Whose to say that we wouldn't find "necessities" at their little book store?
Bot Bie is a family food tradition. It fits the definition of comfort food to tee—warm, filling, and not so very good for you. 
You'd think he'd done all the cooking...
Last nap of 2011.
And finally the snow has arrived. 
This is what a chickadee looks like head-on. He makes me giggle.
The bear/dog/snow/burlap people say "Happy New Year!"
And now we're home, the blog is "caught up", Michigan has won the Sugar Bowl (in a not-so-pretty game), and 2012 can get underway.