3 in 1

1. Merry Christmas! (Twice!)

2. Happy New year!

3. Happy 2 months, Eli!

Christmas #1 happened at our house this year with Joe's parents and older sister (and only sibling) visiting. Their visit wasn't actually about us or Christmas at all, it was because Joe's grandpa passed away and the fuberal was in Denver, but the timing was actually quite perfect so we took the opportunity to celebrate. Debbie entertained Patrick with their big red truck, Gina provided a warm comfy place for Eli to crash (he's always in search of new locale), and John helped Joe work on his car, which is working its way toward its final end more quickly than slowly. I was a little worried about tantrums on Christmas day because Patrick likes to open one present and play with it and it alone, and he gets ticked if you try to put it aside so he can open another. Fortunately we took their pre-Christmas visit slowly, and it really helped him get into the gift-opening mood, so he was an old pro by December 25th. No gift-opening tantrums! (Pictures, though, that was another story). For the meantime, though, he LOVED his new books, see-n-say, and Mr. Potatoe Head! We had a wonderful visit with them and it helped us to look forward to next year when we'll be celebrating at our house on purpose. Oooooh, scary!

Christmas #2 was at my parents house in Grand Junction (the only place I've ever celebrated Christmas Day, you can see why I'm a little scared) and all of my siblings were there! Hooray! It was an occasion for photos (the ones with the tantrums), since the last family photo we had was, I believe, about 6 years ago and only 1 sibling was married and nobody had kids. The new photo is significantly busier, with 4 sibling spouses and 6 kids, the oldest being not yet two, and the youngest being 4 days old. Cuh-razy. I tried to take as many photos as I could on my own camera to catch the moments, but there were just so many people and I'm much more about the moments than the camera, so I didn't quite reach my goals. But oh well, I'll steal from everyone else!

Anyway, Christmas morning started off fairly early, we just all got up when the kiddos got up (which is always fairly early). My dad kept Patrick and Kalena entertained chasing a flashlight beam while we waited for everyone to be up and decent. Eli and William, the newest kiddo, didn't get the memo and slept through the festivities. Patrick obliged in opening Eli's presents for him.

Amelia seemed a bit bewlidered by the whole thing.

Kalena was definitely into it! So was her dad. Christmas is unbelievably even better as a parent!

Eli was awake later in the day to watch the kids play with their new things

like this tunnel/tent combo. They LOVED it!

All in all, from our house to the western slope, we had a WONDERFUL Christmas with our families!

Now I'm going to need some awesome ideas for Christmas traditions for toddlers so I can look forward to our own Christmas (close to) as much as I always look forward to going home. Merry Christmas to all, and to all 2-month olds a happy new year!