The Extended-Family Christmas

Monday was Christmas with Debbie's family, which traditionally begins with the singing of Christmas carols.

Followed by opening of presents, starting with the youngest. Sometimes it's good to be little: Ethan got to go first! And it was a really big box, too.

A firetruck, almost as big as he is!

Meanwhile, Abigail got a lot of cooking-related presents, including a microwave (with sound and light) and a mixer.


Ethan got a lot of vehicles: besides the firetruck, he got a John Deere tractor that makes diesel-engine noises.


Mom and Dad got some good stuff too, but it wasn't nearly as exciting. As with most holiday parties, the Opening of the Gifts was followed by lots of rich, chocolatey food. Despite short naps that day and staying a long time, the kids did really well. It was Abbey's fourth Christmas (3 years old) and Ethan's second (22 months old).

Christmas Morning

The kitchen was a popular present: with both of them! Ethan's big present was a basketball game, which Abigail played with more than he did. Meanwhile, he was enchanted by the kitchen.

Christmas Eve

Abbey got a kitchen for Christmas, which was not "some assembly required" but instead was "ALL assembly required"! We started putting it together about 10:30pm and finished a little after 2am.



That's "A Christmas Story" on the TV in the background. By the time we were done, all the Christmas Eve movies and shows were over except for the service at St. Peter's in Rome.

Making Christmas Cookies

Making sugar-and-frosting cookies with Mommy, in mid-December.

Pictures with Santa

They turned out better than I expected. I actually like the second one better, as it's candid and not posed.

Christmas Family Photo

The updated family picture is here!

I suppose this will probably become our tradition: we talked all year about getting a family photo professionally done, before the busy holiday time, but that still hasn't happened. Today we went to the children's breakfast at the college, and I asked a friend to take our picture before we got in line to see Santa. I hoped to get a good picture before anyone got cranky, and besides I wasn't too optimistic that either Ethan or Abbey would sit with Santa, even if we were there. And I was right: Ethan freaked out just being close to Santa, even on my lap. So the Santa picture, when it comes, will not be flattering to poor Ethan.

But we did get a good family picture. Note that no one is crying in this picture, unlike the 2009 photo.