This year was a very special Christmas as it was Grayson's first. We woke up on Christmas morning, packed up the car and drove to Charleston to spend it with family and friends. Grayson wore his Christmas pajamas and looked adorable. Julia and Ethan were with their mom, stepdad and other family in Florida so we will celebrate with them on New Year's Day.
We spent Christmas day with my mom, Tim, Mindy, Emma, Ali, Luci, Grace, Rosie, Dan, Dominic, Vincent, Gabby, Paul, Anne and Tim and Mindy's friends, Emily, Jason and their kids. The kids had fun running around and playing and it brought me back to when my cousins and I spent holidays at our grandparents in Villa Grove. We have some great memories (black spinning chair, drinking 7-up from their special metal cups, playing games in their basement with the lamp that pulls down from the ceiling, sneaking into the caboose at the park, playing in the neighbors playhouse, etc) from back in those days and I hope Grayson will have special memories with his cousins as well. The kids exchanged presents and Grayson got a cute activity set that goes from infant to toddler and has all kinds of fun stuff to play with. It was a great Christmas until around 4am when I started throwing up and was sick for the next 24 hours with the stomach flu. Emily and Jason were both sick around the same time as me and then Craig got sick, Emma, Mindy, Tim, but luckily no one else got sick, especially the babies.
We have a lot to be thankful for this year and are very blessed to have wonderful family and friends. We hope everyone had a great Christmas!
Notes on pictures below:
We took Grayson to visit Santa at Macy's. It was so cute watching him experience it all for the first time. He had fun walking through the waiting area because they had all kinds of fun stuff to look at. I wasn't sure how he would react when he sat on Santa's lap, but he did great. We also stopped by the Walnut Room on the 7th floor and took some pictures of the beautiful Christmas tree.
My cousin Stu and his girlfriend Sarah got Grayson a handprint ornament. I thought it was so cute so I decided to get a footprint one as well so we can start a tradition and capture these every Christmas. My mom and Craig worked on getting these done while I documented it with photos.
Oma gets the kids the best ornaments for whatever their interests are that year. It's such a great tradition and we plan to do that with Grayson as well. She got Julia a black dress, Ethan a new driver ornament and Grayson a my first Christmas ornament.
Julia remembers reading The Christmas Story when she was little all the time around Christmas and even memorized the words. She loved that book and wanted to buy the same book for Grayson and read it to him every year. How sweet!
We opened presents on New Year's Day with Julia, Ethan and Grayson. Julia got lots of clothes and a portable turntable (new version of the old school kind that she asked for) and Ethan got lots of clothes, sunglasses and a helicopter.
I made a stamp out of the picture below. It's one of my favorite pictures of him.
We spent Christmas day with my mom, Tim, Mindy, Emma, Ali, Luci, Grace, Rosie, Dan, Dominic, Vincent, Gabby, Paul, Anne and Tim and Mindy's friends, Emily, Jason and their kids. The kids had fun running around and playing and it brought me back to when my cousins and I spent holidays at our grandparents in Villa Grove. We have some great memories (black spinning chair, drinking 7-up from their special metal cups, playing games in their basement with the lamp that pulls down from the ceiling, sneaking into the caboose at the park, playing in the neighbors playhouse, etc) from back in those days and I hope Grayson will have special memories with his cousins as well. The kids exchanged presents and Grayson got a cute activity set that goes from infant to toddler and has all kinds of fun stuff to play with. It was a great Christmas until around 4am when I started throwing up and was sick for the next 24 hours with the stomach flu. Emily and Jason were both sick around the same time as me and then Craig got sick, Emma, Mindy, Tim, but luckily no one else got sick, especially the babies.
We have a lot to be thankful for this year and are very blessed to have wonderful family and friends. We hope everyone had a great Christmas!
Notes on pictures below:
We took Grayson to visit Santa at Macy's. It was so cute watching him experience it all for the first time. He had fun walking through the waiting area because they had all kinds of fun stuff to look at. I wasn't sure how he would react when he sat on Santa's lap, but he did great. We also stopped by the Walnut Room on the 7th floor and took some pictures of the beautiful Christmas tree.
My cousin Stu and his girlfriend Sarah got Grayson a handprint ornament. I thought it was so cute so I decided to get a footprint one as well so we can start a tradition and capture these every Christmas. My mom and Craig worked on getting these done while I documented it with photos.
Oma gets the kids the best ornaments for whatever their interests are that year. It's such a great tradition and we plan to do that with Grayson as well. She got Julia a black dress, Ethan a new driver ornament and Grayson a my first Christmas ornament.
Julia remembers reading The Christmas Story when she was little all the time around Christmas and even memorized the words. She loved that book and wanted to buy the same book for Grayson and read it to him every year. How sweet!
We opened presents on New Year's Day with Julia, Ethan and Grayson. Julia got lots of clothes and a portable turntable (new version of the old school kind that she asked for) and Ethan got lots of clothes, sunglasses and a helicopter.
I made a stamp out of the picture below. It's one of my favorite pictures of him.
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