Skylar wrote a series of letters to Santa. I'm not sure what she wrote in all of them, but a number of them apparently featured this request:

This was a rough draft. She knows I had it in my office, awaiting the day when I would get around to scanning it. "Why do you have to take a picture of everything, dad?" she asked me when she saw it sitting on my computer desk, doing her best exasperated tone. But I think she was secretly pleased at the depth of my documentary impulse.

Anyway, Santa must have received the final version of this missive, because he stumbled into our front room with a giant plush lion on his back. Skylar was delighted to discover it this morning and proceeded to talk about it on the phone with both sets of grandparents. Kim managed to get a nice shot of her moment of morning hairdo-enhanced bliss:

It was a great Christmas for all of us, the mellowest one that the three of us have had here in Tucson. I only wish I didn't have to leave in five hours. . .

Tags: family, home