Christmas 2011 had no choice but to be pretty darn special... what with the brand new baby in our brand new home! It all started on Christmas Eve with a visit to "Grandad"'s house (formerly known to me as "Dad"). There we visited with my dad, his girlfriend Rae, Grammy (my grandmother and Eli's GREAT grandmother), and my great aunt and her son. We enjoyed Rae's always-fabulous cooking, and then mostly sat around ooo-ing and ahhh-ing at this cute lil guy ;-)
Laughing at Grandad on his new rocking horse
Holding hands with Grammy for a quick snooze
On Christmas morning we took our sweet time at home...
Mommy got a wonderful new camera lens, with which all remaining photos were taken!
Next stop was Mom Mom's (formerly known to me as "Mom") where Eli was showered with a rather ridiculous mountain of gifts, as were we! We enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner (which our little angel slept right on through!) and lots of sparkling conversation with my step-dad's family who came to spend Christmas with us.
Mom Mom enjoying some "Eli time"
Our third and final Christmas celebration was held at my mother-in-law's house, where us kids took care of the cooking. Ben's step father had surgery for esophageal cancer on the 22nd and is still in the hospital recovering, so Ben's mom had spent most of the day with him. We had all pitched in for crab cakes and filets which Ben's sister Emily expertly prepared, along with fresh broccoli and baked potatoes with pie and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert! Then came the annual gift exchange pandemonium...
Emily opening gifts with her baby girl, Carsen
Our beautiful niece Lacy... 12 going on 20
Our adorable, wacky nephew Evan just doing his own thing, as usual
Ben playing Lincoln Logs... "with the kids" of course ;-)
Carsen and Caraline drumming on the gift boxes (who needs toys, right?)
Typical Ben-and-Lacy shenanigans
Pooped.
It was a long day for our little guy, but it was exactly the kind of big family celebration that inspired us to bring him into the picture in the first place. We're so blessed to have a family like this to surround our children with love, laughs and warm memories :-)
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