Christmas Recap

A quick family photo...N is awake, but not looking.



















J came home from school looking like Rudolph.



















LongWood Gardens, this picture doesn't do it justice.



















CHEESE!!














So Christmas has came and gone so it is time to recap the great time we had as a family. J's mom flew in on the 20th and stayed til the 24th. During her time here J had a ton of stuff going on at work and had to prepare for his big trip...which I will touch on a little later in the recap. However, we did manage to go to LongWood Garden in PA. It was spectacular and if we are still here next year for the holidays we will definitely be returning with the boys. It is 600 acres with walking gardens, greenhouses, and fountains. For the holidays they also decorate with 500,000 lights and the fountains put on a special music/light show. After freezing our ears off, note to self remember hats not just for the boys next time, we warmed up eating at PF Changs...one of my favorite and boys favorite restaurant which J's mom hadn't been to before. The boys had school still while she was here so during the week it was pretty much the same routine with some Christmas shopping thrown in. We enjoyed her stay, hopefully she wasn't too bored during the week. We also opened gifts from that side of the family, which was good because Santa needed some space under the tree.

Speaking of Santa, we had a nice morning opening presents on Christmas. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the joy that the boys felt that morning...however lil' J thought there were TOO MANY toys to open and got mad. I think he might change his mind by next year though. The boys got more Star Wars Hero figures, GeoTrax station and airport, suitcases, giftcards, books, money, etc...too much to list. But we enjoyed our family time and J and I have sore little fingers from opening and untwisting all those toys from their packaging to prove it.

That afternoon we made our way over to our friends to share a meal and to play some RockBand 2. We put together a pretty good band with taking turns singing, playing the drum kit, and guitars. M really enjoyed playing the drums and was sweating from all the energy he was putting into it. This maybe on our short list of investments in the future, we shall see what kind of space we shall have in our next house.

J left on a trip on the 27th and will be back in March, so we went out and used some of the giftcards and ate at one of his favorite restaurants Carrabas on the 26th...yum yum! We came home and he finished packing, writing the Christmas letter, and said goodbye to the boys.

J got to his destination ok and we were able to webchat and watch the Vikings beat the Giants!! That was a great present for J who has been watching and listening all season and was worried that he was going to miss this important game.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and we look forward to a new year with our expanded family and new adventures.