If you thought what transpired between 4 and 7 p.m. yesterday would be enough to ruin my weekend, you'd be mistaken. It certainly wasn't a highlight, but fortunately there was plenty of fun to be had elsewhere...

And for those of you who visit Wine by the Color for photos of the crazy nephews and their equally nutty sister, this is your lucky week. Let's start with the past two days and then we'll move backward throughout the week. If you wondered what the trio looked like for Halloween, you should know by Thursday...

After a lovely outing with The Captain Friday night, which included some delicious Thai food, Saturday started with a trip to cut down a Christmas tree. I think this is one of the kids' favorite days of the year, ranking high with Halloween, their birthdays and Christmas itself. You might not think there would be much to do except select a tree, but that would be erroneous.

For instance, Matthew, who was wearing his husky head hat, found a stick, which immediately became a sword. He then ran around like a crazy gladiator...




















He kicked it up a notch by pulling the hat entirely over his face. Anything to look a little crazier...




















After inspecting every tree on the eight-acre property and at least 14 suggestions that "we could get a Charlie Brown tree" and another dozen references to "it's not going in the yard, Russ. It's going in the living room," a winner was finally chosen...














And then two young boys were handed a large saw, which they couldn't quite believe but rather enjoyed...












Emily was exhausted by the proceedings and passed out en route to her cousin's birthday party that afternoon...




















After I ran errands for five hours Sunday morning (and let me tell you, 7 a.m. is the best time to be in a store during the holiday season. I was one of three customers in Wal-Mart and the staff was friendly. One of the female employees was belting out Christmas tunes while she worked, which might sound annoying but was actually rather lovely), the nephews visited Casa Magnolia that afternoon to help decorate my tree. Under the backdrop of the Giants-Eagles game, Adam was given the job of separating the branches of my not-quite-live tree.















And why is he laughing? Because as the three of us discussed our family's football allegiances, he suggested the Cowboys' name should be changed to the Farts. "Why?" I inquired. "Because they stink," he replied in a fit of giggles.

I don't know where they get this stuff, but about two weeks from now, I'm going to start snickering as I sit in a meeting and it will be because I'm thinking about The Farts.

Meanwhile, Matthew delicately unwrapped ornaments...













And then, there were two Christmas miracles: all the lights worked, and the boys displayed solid teamwork to finish unwrapping the ornaments, with no fighting...














There are probably more sports-related ornaments here than any grown woman should have...




















The boys were terrific helpers but eventually became antsy and started asking to play video games. So to regain the crowd, I did what I had to do ... yes, I put Christmas lights on my head...














Let me assure you, should you ever need to regain the attention of two small children, put lit lights on your head. It is quite the crowd-pleaser.

The tree complete, it was time to bask in the glory of everyone's work and settle in for the Jets-Niners game.




















And then their sister came for a visit...




















where she admired the ornament of college football's only two-time Heisman winner (at least for another five days)...














What she did not enjoy was the Jets' effort. Nor did her aunt.

At least there are no more California teams the Jets can lose to this season...