Christmas Day 2009

Welcome Christmas!

Dan and I spent Christmas morning with Matt, Kris, Will and Aila.

Willy was thrilled with the Thomas the Train "choo choo" set he got from Santa- and the table to go with it!

He knows the names of most of the cars, and knows which ones go together. The funniest of course are the ones he hasn't quite gotten (or has chosen to make up his own names for- we're not sure exactly where it stands). Toby has a car that attaches that Willy calls "Tobietta" instead of Henrietta! And Oliver is All-of-Her! He seems to know he's not saying it right. I think he just likes his versions better.

In typical kid fashion though- 10 minutes after presents were opened, Willy abandoned the train in favor of Aila's fascinating baby toys. But she didn't mind, because she had my lens cap to chew on. And all is right in the world again.

Funny kids!

The Litchfield's Christmas Tree

We all took turns playing trains and making up new fun ways to play with them.

Then it was time for more presents- from Auntie Jen & Uncle Dan.

This package contains yet more train cars!!

After the presents were opened, Dan took some time to catch up on his coloring.

Gotta practice if you want to keep up your good form.

Aila babe, in her first Christmas PJs!

It was a lovely, quiet morning. We were waiting for Dave to arrive to eat breakfast, and after the presents were all opened, and Dan finished coloring, he took to more creative pursuits.

You'll see here that a crime has already been committed in this quaint fledgling town. Man down. Fire and ambulance on the scene and police tape it up. Hopefully they notice the man that got chopped in half by the train tracks. Ouch!

Yep. Trains are a good choice for boys of all ages.

And Aila looks content playing with her own toys too (finally).

After breakfast with the gang- whole & buck wheat pancakes with very little syrup (had to get that memory in there- for the record I thought it was delicious. the others didn't concur)... after that we headed to my mom's.

Amazingly enough, Mom & Dad's fireplace was finished in the nick of time (Dad attempted to repair a crack in the wall and they ended up having to gut most of the livingroom to repair the mold and other damage that was hidden).

We chatted and snacked, and then got some wonderful news. Karen & Steve are having a baby! Karen is due in May! We were so shocked, surprised and happy for them! Looking forward to another addition to the family.

This year for dinner we had:

Riley, Jeff, Melissa, Aunt Milly, Linda, Bob, Steve, Karen, Dan, Jen, Gram, Mom & Dad

Christmas cuteness!

After dinner we dove right into opening gifts so Karen and Steve could get to his side of the family's to share the good news there.

Riley started things off. Whenever she'd start opening the gifts, she'd say "riiip!"

Then if the item was clothing, she'd either try to put the garment right over her head to try it on. Or she'd try to put it on her bitty baby (her favorite gift from Santa).

Riley got Potty Training Elmo from Grammy.

She was more interested in drinking his "juice."

... which Grammy thought was pretty amusing :)

After presents we ate dessert and relaxed in the livingroom.

All in all it was a wonderful day. We each got some really nice gifts. But more than that it was nice just to be with eachother. Not much running around. Not much hassle or chaos.

And though Dan and I were tired when we left Mom's around 7p, we headed to Mr. P's to play some Cranium- a great idea!!! And from there we went to Shawn's for some late night hijinx! A great end to a wonderful Christmas.