Kieran was very pleased to decorate his first batches of Christmas cookies this year. He was even more pleased to eat them, along with the many cookies that found their way to our house from friends and neighbors. I think it's safe to say that Kieran found his sweet tooth this year.
Sometime around Christmas we visited the Large Animal Research Station just down the road from our house. They do a holiday open house each year but this is the first time we've taken advantage of it.
We got a close-up look at the muskox at the farm. Kieran was super excited when the caretaker came up with a bucket of grain which he shook to get the animals to come in closer. They came in closer in a hurry - if you've never seen a muskox run you should really put that on your life list. After all the grain was on the ground the caretaker came back out and Kieran ran over to the shed where the grain came from, gesturing wildly to the caretaker that the muskox were obviously still hungry and he would be happy to get them more food. Sadly, the caretaker just chuckled and walked back to the heated buildings.
Here's Kieran watching the caretaker walk away. You can see the concern in his face.
We also got a nice look at the reindeer. As we were walking around one of the volunteers mentioned that they have to go through training to work at the farm during tourist season. Part of their training is learning to respond respectfully to tourists' questions about the animals, one of the most popular being, "Do the reindeer and muskox interbreed?"
We had a couple of chances to see fireworks around the holidays. Downtown Fairbanks puts on a nice celebration on the winter solstice; an important day up here, as you might imagine. We ran into Dana, our very special daycare...now I never know what to call her. Provider? Lady? Person? She's more like a member of the family that lives across town and takes care of Kieran while we are at work.
Merry Solstice!
Let's see, at some point we went to Valdez, though now I can't remember if it was before or after Christmas. Kieran met his new friends Fisher and Kinsey for the first time. They were instant friends, literally. We walked in the door after our 8 hour drive and before I had my boots off Kieran was walking through the house holding Fisher's hand, Kinsey on the other side, chatting about things toddlers chat about like they had known each other for years. It continued on like that for the rest of our stay. Here Kieran surveys one of the entrances to their snow cave.
It didn't take him long to dive right in!
Back at home on Christmas morning, the cats opened their stocking first thing so our day started with some good old fashioned cat fishing. Look at that technique! Nice form maestro!
Got one!
Then there was breakfast to make. Kieran got right to work in his new kitchen.
This was Kieran's reaction to his new friend. His very own sled dog from Auntie Helen! It took us (parents) a few weeks to get used to the dog. It was particularly startling when we walked in Christmas night after a long drive and it was waiting for us around the corner in the dimly-lit living room. We've gotten used to it but the cats are still wary. 
Our little ham modeling my beautiful new sweater from Bushka. We both love it, thanks Bushka!
Here's another gift from Bushka and Grandaddy...an instant hit!
Lap 128...now that's a happy kiddo!
We finished off Christmas day in Delta Junction with the Masons and friends. They are getting close to finishing a new addition to the house and Kieran was happy to help, even on a holiday. Here he is "fixing" the firewood.
The carpet also needed some fixing. We had a great Christmas. We hope you did too.
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