Christmas Cards That Didn't Make the Cut

I had to take about three dozen photos before I got one that was usable for a Christmas card.  Here Thomas gets a kick out of squeezing Frederick.
Frederick readies for the flash by squinting.
I told them to "act like you like each other."  This is what they came up with:
Getting fed up with the fruitlessness of getting a "natural" looking posed shot, we headed outside for "candid fun."  Thomas gives Frederick another rib busting squeeze. 
Frederick cracks Thomas us by eating snow.  It was this stunt that actually got them to both smile at the same time and gave us the picture I used in the card.  It's out of focus, but that is as good as it gets in this household.

Morning has Broken...

Christmas morning wasn't as insane as it has been in the past. Frederick slept in until almost 8 and Thomas didn't emerge from his room until almost 9. (Thomas has been staying up reading, writing, drawing and in general pissing about until sometime between 2 and 4 am every night now for weeks, so I think we finally have crazy Christmas mornings behind us.) Frederick excited about getting a triple pack of Sesame Street cds:
Thomas clearly over the moon about a game I know nothing about:
Simon tunes out, completely engrossed with a comic book:Frederick gets an electronic drum set. What WERE we thinking?And here is Thomas with what he has been asking for for several years:

The Birthday Girl

Granny reading card from Thomas, which came with a 4 pound glass paperweight. Thomas obviously thought such a gift exactly what someone needs who is limited to two small bags on the international flight home. Simon treated her to his famous vegetable torte which was delicious, or so I thought--we're not allowed to discuss it ("I used inferior cheeses! Stop TALKING about it!").
But the REAL question is: Is there such a thing as having TOO MANY knitting books?

Santa Visits Frederick's School

Just before the end of the year, Santa visited Frederick's school.  We were asked before the day whether or not we would order photos of the event.  We were skeptical that Frederick would enjoy sitting on a stranger's knee but, as you can see from the photo our worries were ill founded. The thing in Frederick's right hand is a big sleigh bell stick, which he is clearly enjoying ringing.  According to his teacher, Frederick's classmates held it daintily with two fingers and wondered what to do with it.  Frederick, having benefited from several years of bell ringing in his music lessons with Mr. Mike, knew exactly what it was all about. 

What Happened?

Every morning Frederick wakes up around 6:30 or 7, gets out of bed and stands in the hallway, waiting for me to take him to the bathroom. Once in there he does his toilet business and we head back to his room where he reads books, listens to a cd of his favorite music and he waits for everyone else to get up and start the day. The other day I heard his door open and noticed, as usual, that it was around 6:30 in the morning. I could see him outlined in our doorway but not much else since it is still pitch black at that time of day. When we went into the bathroom I flipped on the light switch. We both looked at him and noticed that he was, unlike when he went to bed the night before, stark naked. Frederick looked at me, completely stunned, and asked, "What happened?"

And This Came a Few Days Ago

More mysterious instructions:

Here is the puzzle. (Frederick's letters are hard to see, but it reads: "Frederick, Ready, set, go! Into the tee pee Love, Emily"):

And when did this take place? Not recently, since there has been snow and ice on the ground for a few days now.

More on Frederick's Secret Life

A letter came in the mail a while ago with this secret code inside. Frederick quickly decoded the strange message:

Then this was inside:

And this as well: