I took three weeks off during December, combined with company shut down in the last week. I ended up spending a lot of time at home to be with Max and Renee. The grand parents took a break visiting China. It was time well spent for me, as I learned a lot about Max.
A funny thing happen about Max that I thought I should write down. He grew a bad habit of biting his lower lip, to an extent it seemed that I could see the upper teeth all the time. For several months, we tried different things to correct him but couldn't.
And guess what changed all that.
He got a cold and had stuffy nose for a week. As a result, he had to use his mouth to breathe. At the end of that cold, he forgot about biting his lips.

Renee had her dance recital. The whole class had only one boy. The rest dressed up as beauty. Renee also had a music concert at school, and she was very good. I don't have any pictures though, because I took the video.

During the break, I took Max to visit the place where I work. There were holiday decorations around the floor, and Max liked this one the most.

Renee had an intensive swimming training, one every weekday. The new teacher pushed her through her fear, such that when she went back to her old teacher after New Year, she got so much better. She can swim under water for 5 seconds now! We are all very happy how this turned out. We took Max to swim lessons too, but between his fever and my cough, it is on hold for the moment.

What is a Christmas without the Santa. Renee is finally not afraid of Santa anymore and she took very nice pictures. Max is another story. See for yourself.

It must be a parent thing. I just think these two kids are so cute when they are dressed up and walk around.

We finally had some good weather, and we visited central park. Here Renee was crying in my arm after falling off the swing because she let go to brush her hair. Opps.
We set up a small Christmas tree this year. It seems to work out better than big ones, because the kids can see the whole tree and play with the decorations. Of course, we took some pictures.

We took some cute pictures.

We took some funny ones, especially those when Max was laughing so hard he fell back into the tree.

And.... Merry Christmas!!!