Christmas 2010

What a gift it was to have all the kids and their spouses and our grandkids here for Christmas! Kelsie, Graham, and Isla arrived on the 23rd, so we extra time to hang out with them. Here’s Isla playing with her favorite toy at Grandma and Grandpa’s house:

Playing with Grandpa:

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Graham cooked dinner for us that night: a wonderful pasta dish with sausage and fresh fennel, and a salad of arugula, pears, and fresh parmesan. Yum! After dinner we played some Yahtzee.

The next morning, Christmas Eve, we had omelets for breakfast. Isla has a gigantic appetite. Here she is, enjoying her eggs:

Josh arrived at around 1:00, so we went to the 3:00 service at Cornwall, took a drive to see the lights, and then came back to the house for teriyaki flank steak.

Isla got to wear this gorgeous Christmas dress, not just to church, but all day!

Later in the evening, we gathered around the Christmas tree for the reading of the Christmas story, hot chocolate, and cookies/candies.

On Christmas morning, we enjoyed our traditional pre-present-opening sugared cereal. This year we had a choice of Cocoa Puffs, Fruit Loops, or Crackling Oat Bran. Isla, of course didn’t get to eat these decadent breakfast treats. Next year, maybe?

Isla thought this garland of stars made a great necklace:

Lani, Michael, and Gideon arrived around 10 AM. Time for the festivities to begin! First item of business: The traditional family picture by the Christmas tree. Gideon wasn’t too thrilled with the idea, but by taking about 20 shots or so, we managed to get one that made him look like he was barely even crying. Joe, however, had a hard time behaving.

There’s a very definite order to our gift opening. We do them one at a time, in a very leisurely fashion, starting with the youngest member of the family and working toward the oldest. This is repeated until all the presents are opened. We had to deviate from tradition just a bit when Gideon had to nurse and then when Isla left to take her morning nap. But we finally managed to finish it all by 1:30 or so. Here’s Ben opening one of his presents:

Cute photos of Gideon:

 

It was totally a beverage Christmas for Michael: a coffee maker, several boxes of specialty coffees, 3 Starbucks cards, and a bottle of whiskey…

Gideon got an adorable owl cap:

After a Christmas brunch of cinnamon rolls, sausage, and scrambled eggs (finished at about 3 PM), we took some time to play. Ben got a new X-box. Here are the boys, trying it out:

While Isla napped, Lani and Kelsie and Robin worked on a jigsaw puzzle:

Gideon entertained himself by jabbering and smiling at his reflection in a mirror:

We had a late dinner of barbecued steak with an amazing blue cheese sauce. Then we had time for several games of Sequence.

Everyone spent the night. Then we took our time the next morning, having brunch and playing for a while, before heading to Puyallup for the Wilson extended family gathering at Tom and Rosemary’s.

What a wonderful Christmas!

Smart Cats, Bad Decorator…or Both?

This is our third year with a fake tree. I don’t remember whose idea it was exactly to make the switch, but I do remember that we were going to Mexico for Christmas the year we brought it home from Costco. It seemed to make sense at the time. No dried up needles to create a fire hazard while we were gone. I do miss the yearly Christmas tree hunt and the smell of fresh evergreens in the house…but not the trauma of getting the tree straight in the stand.

I wanted a tree with colored lights like we’d always had, but we ended up with white. And with a tree so bright that you’d never know the other lights were off in the living room. I found there was nothing I could really do to tone down the lights, but I tried to compensate for the lack of color by strategically hanging shiny red, blue, and green balls throughout, plastic, of course, because I know how tempting any hanging thing can be for two cats.

The cats know they are not supposed to bother the tree, but when we’re not looking, they pull the balls off. I suppose that’s not altogether a bad thing, because since I’m never too confident of my decorating abilities, this gives me a chance to try multiple times to get it right.

But this morning, as I walked into the room, I had a realization: all four of the balls I saw on the carpet, and all those I’d seen the previous day were green! My first thought was, “Wow! Those are really smart cats! I didn’t know they could distinguish colors like that!” Then I began to wonder, “Did they single out the green balls because they prefer them? Or because they stand out more?” And then it was…gasp…”Do the green balls look bad on the tree? Are the cats better decorators than I am?”

Not to worry. My concerns were short-lived. Because upon closer inspection I found two red balls on the carpet behind the tree. Whew!

Fun With Family

There were some gaps around the table at Thanksgiving this year. We missed those of you who couldn’t come, whether you had other plans or just couldn’t get here because of the snow. But we’re grateful for those who braved the weather. Here are a few pictures of our time together.

Day one (Thanksgiving day):

The little ones:

Gideon, almost 10 weeks old 

Jill with Charlotte (2 months)

Lani and Gideon

Annika, being a worm with Hailey

Hailey, pretending she’s some other animal

Learning to hold up 3 fingers

Coloring together

Saben and Nathan, having loads of fun together "now that Nathan realizes Saben can talk”

Josh and Gideon

Fortieth anniversary party. (Without the guests of honor) unfortunately.

 

Sorry you missed it, Sandy and Dave!

Playing Sequence, a new favorite family game:

Day two:

Playing Sequence again.

Lunchtime:

"

Joe: “I can’t believe you hid my plate in the oven, Ben!

Ben: “Well, it’s only because you hid mine in the cupboard, Dad!”

Joe: “Well, I knew that if you couldn’t find your plate, you’d open the cupboard to get another one, and then you’d find it…”

 

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