Borrelli Christmas

I'm not sure how I always come away from a big family gathering with hardly any pictures, but here are the few I DID get!

Grampy with his littlest grandchild, Isabella. Well, next-to-littlest...the other one is only 1/4 inch long right now...My sister Leslee and her husband Mike are expecting their 3rd baby this summer!Resting before the big meal...
Mommy and Elijah:

The 5 Grandchildren. Brandon-12 (Leslee & Mike), Isabella-5 months (Paula & Jim), Elijah-2, Sarah-8 (Leslee & Mike), Kyle-5 (Paula & Jim)
Mike, Sarah & Elijah:

Ed, spending time with Isabella. This was actually their first meeting!

That's all I got- no pictures of my sisters or my mom...None of the amazing meal my Dad & Stepmother put on. But we all came away with many memories of a wonderful holiday!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Hope you all had a beautiful Christmas! Our celebrations began Christmas Eve morning, when we met Heather, Jason and the boys for a couple hours of sledding. We're so happy that there's snow!

Jackson and Ryan:
Keeping up with the "Big Boys"Hot cocoa break:

Christmas Eve, our good friends Dan and Rebekah joined us for dinner.

The next morning, we awoke at the extremely reasonable hour of 7:00AM...I don't expect that to last many more years. Santa Claus had brought...

Thomas the Tank Engine books... a Bob the Builder DVD...Winnie the Pooh...Grin break:

A much-coveted Thomas the Tank Engine backpack......it's on...
...and he's off...

We had an incredibly relaxing rest of the day, which was good- because the next two days would be filled with traveling, family and more gifts. The Borrelli Family Christmas blog post will be next...and then the "Local Alexanders" Christmas (happening tomorrow) and finally, the "Greater Alexander Christmas" (coming on Saturday).

Still so much fun ahead! And to make it even better, it's really REALLY snowing right now!

The best gift I got for Christmas this year? News that my sister Leslee and her husband Mike are expecting a new baby next summer! I can't believe we are going to have another baby in the family so soon, and I couldn't be happier for them (or Nana and Grampy!)

Oh, Christmas Tree!

This morning we struck out for Bakersfield Tree Farm to choose and cut our Christmas tree. The temperature was approximately 4 degrees Fahrenheit when we left the house at 9:30AM. But there was no wind and the sun was shining brightly! In what I suppose is an overcompensation for a childhood of Charlie Browns, choosing a Christmas tree has become one of my favorite annual events. Much to Ed's chagrin, I often search and search for the tree that is "just right." Inevitably, we end up cutting the very first tree I mark as a potential candidate. Today was no exception!

Afterwards, we talked Ed into going sliding at the rec path. As you can see, we don't have much for snow (in fact, I think there's more in Nice right now!). We took a few runs and Elijah had fun- he didn't seem to notice the lack of white stuff!

Later in the day, I headed off to finish my Christmas shopping. I made pretty good progress...just one or two gifts left to buy! I was also treated to Martha and Addy caroling on Church Street with other members of Lyric Theater. Of course, they sounded beautiful!

Finally, here are some pictures of Elijah's "artistic side." I stayed home with him on Friday (his daycare was closed for a funeral) and it was too cold (-14 degrees with wind chill) to spend more than a half hour outside so we pulled out the paints. He had a lot of fun, and I was really glad the paints were washable!

He looks like a little Kung Fu master wearing an old shirt of mine and one of Ed's retired ties around the waist!

Let Me Take Care of Dinner Tonight!

Scenes from last Friday night:

Elijah: "Dad, Mom's busy getting ready for her Bunco night. Why don't you sit down and relax? You've had a long week. Pour yourself a nice glass of wine and allow me to make dinner tonight.""Hmmm....What should I make?"
"How does pasta sound?"
"Don't worry about a thing- I'll even do the dishes."
Later that evening across town....December Bunco was in session. Another amazing night with friends!

Mary Had a Little Lamb

We ended a lovely Sunday with a warm, fresh chocolate chip cookie....

And then some singing (Mary Had a Little Lamb, in case you can't tell!)

So Many Things to be Thankful For!

Sit back and relax-here are dozens of pictures from our 4 days in Rhode Island:

First, Thanksgiving at my Dad's house-

Here's my nephew Kyle giving some serious love to his baby sister Isabella:Some outside time with Auntie Carole, while the Thanksgiving feast was being prepared:
Burning off some energy:

The sisters, and 4 of the 5 children (Isabella was napping):

Our traditional family shot on Thanksgiving Day:

Me and my Dad:

We had a fantastic, traditional Thanksgiving meal. My Dad worked so hard to create a memorable feast! We all left stuffed, and barely touched dessert. But don't you worry- I took tons of leftovers and enjoyed my desserts later!

On Friday, we went to visit my friends Kim and Ken. Here are their 3 children- Sydney (5) and Gabriel (22 months)- with our suddenly UN-camera-shy munchkin:

Next are some pictures from Elijah's Birthday party at my sister Paula's house. Here's Nana, with all of her beautiful grandchildren. Talk about something to be thankful for!

Nana gets bowled over by loving grand kids!

A sideways shot of Elijah's second birthday cake:

Blowing out the candles

Opening presents:

Thanks, Auntie Paula and Uncle Jim for hosting a great family Birthday party for Elijah! Even after all that cake, Elijah slept well on the looong drive home!

Happily, Ed returned home from deer camp this morning (Sunday). After Elijah's nap, we had one final birthday party:Leftover birthday cake!But the cake will have to wait until after the presents are opened...A couple of books from Mommy and Daddy:
And the Big Present- an artist's easel:And, finally....back to that birthday cake!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet "baby" boy. Can't believe how the time has flown...seems like just yesterday that we were sitting around Martha and Chris' Thanksgiving table making bets on when the baby would arrive!

I love you!!!