A Very Merry Christmas

It's been a lovely few days. On Wednesday (Christmas Eve), Tyler and Matt joined us for a ham dinner. We had a lot of great time together to visit and play Jeopardy! I am no match for either of those guys!

Christmas morning, Ed made french toast and moose sausage. We enjoyed a nice breakfast before being joined by Alexander Strong, who enjoyed hearing all the deer and moose stories from the season.

Matt and Elijah kick back with a "cold one"- sippy cup, that is!

Tyler and Matt brought me a beautiful ceramic bowl from Phogg Pottery in Newport. They showered Elijah with gifts- wool socks and mittens, as well as an absolutely adorable turtle fur hat. All items he so desperately needed!

The boys left around noon to head to their Mom's house. We really enjoyed being able to share part of the holiday with them; it was so quiet after they'd gone.

"One of these things is not like the others..."

(Notice how Ed, Tyler and Matt all have the same dreamy blue eyes- and then there's the Ermine, with his beady browns)

Ed, Elijah and I relaxed for a good portion of the day. We opened our gifts to each other, and from Santa Claus.

Elijah, who had no concept of Christmas, was tuckered out and fell asleep:

The next day, Friday, Ed stayed home with Elijah while I ran a few errands and had lunch with my friend Sarah.

Saturday was the Alexander Christmas party at Wesley and Darlene's in Glover. Elijah wasn't feeling well, he was running a slight fever and was showing signs of having a cold. He was a pretty good trooper for a couple of hours, after which we had to make a hasty departure. He was deteriorating fast!

Dan Rothman couldn't believe how good-natured Elijah had been earlier in the day. Then he got a peek at the "Dark Side"...

Here are the few photos I did shoot:

Sarah, Katie, Cole, Mary and Jesse:

Elijah with Uncle Paul and "Elmo":

Opening the Monkey Doll that Grammie made:

I think this is a very flattering picture of Grammie, she looks so pretty:

Here's one group photo of the cousins who were available. As you can see, Matt had his hands full with Elijah. The meltdown had certainly begun. We left shortly thereafter :-)One of the highlights for me was finally getting to meet Tyler's girlfriend Aimee, who lives in Atlanta. She is very pretty and sweet, and seemed to manage quite well at meeting our whole family in one shot.

Sunday afternoon we attended a party for Bob Slayton, MMU's long-time baseball coach (and Latin teacher) who has decided to retire from coaching. It was a very nice party, we saw a lot of folks we haven't seen in a while (including Pat and Roy Keith, who got a big kick out of Elijah), but our child was out of control! He didn't want to be held or restrained in any way, and he just doesn't understand "No" yet. Or maybe he pretends to not understand it! We decided it was time to go when he nearly succeeded in pulling down a tablecloth (including all the plates, flatware and glasses that were on it)- he's QUICK, too! I fondly remember the days when he would hang contentedly from the Baby Bjorn carrier...

We had hoped to take advantage of childcare and do some XC skiing today, but the snow has not cooperated. Today was pretty low-key, I'm feeling a little under the weather and Ed has started feeling a sore throat coming on.

Wednesday night we'll go to Heather and Jason's, like we always do to celebrate the New Year (although I don't think we've ever actually made it until midnight)

Friday we leave for Rhode Island, to spend some time with my family. I hear we're expecting a storm, and hope our travel plans are not impacted!