The bears

They are usually the first box opened and every year the kids pull them out of the box and gleefully talk about when we got each bear and which bear they like the most.

The kids usually end up with a pile of bears on top of them.

This year, I was the only one home one evening and I pulled them out of the box.  It felt kind of depressing.  But then it wasn't.  Because I love these bears.  They are more than just pretty faces.  They are memories.

I remember (mostly) the moment Adam gave the bears to us.  I remember that they were named for something that happened that year.  They are this weird scrapbook that I love.

Here's Mark showing Grandpa Linn Conner.  We acquired Conner years before Mark was born, but Conner is still Mark's favorite bear.

The year we got Lumi:

The year Emma staged a protest that we didn't have enough girl bears.

The year we got Noelle (a girl, and also French so she probably has those dots above the o)

Last year? When they acted out an impromptu story starring the bears.

Surveying the bears this year, Adam said, "This has got to stop."

And he's right.  There's a tipping point when you become a little crazy because you have so many bears and we are probably way past that point.

We decided that next year, when Mark is a senior, will be our last bear.

I told Adam that for the last bear, I wanted one of those enormous Costco bears.  He gave me a side eye, but he knew I was joking.

We need little bears at this point.

Names added for posterity... you know, in case it is life changing... top row:  Conner, Milly, Tea Cup, James, Hobee; Smith, Stella, MacIntosh, Pip and Pop (or Bad and Guy or Snow and Flake)--they are not real Christmas bears, but imposters.  We add them anyway and they have rotating names, Stilly, Fergus (my favorite), Noah, Missy, Noelle, Zephyr; on the sleigh: Lad and Lumi; front row:  Cardamon, Earnest, Shasta, Geyser, Mystic, Alderwood, Skipper, Cashmere and Stewie