Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful holiday traveling to see both families. We are so fortunate to have such a flexible little guy who is very content to travel in the car! For Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we visited Mommy's family. Sammy had a great time with his 3 doggie cousins - Kadey, Ellie, and Sydney. His kitty cousin wasn't too sure about Sammy. Highlights included:
--Christmas Eve brunch with family and friends (where was our camera?! We really need to be more on top of the picture taking!). It was great to see so many of you!
--Christmas Eve Service at Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's Church. Aunt Erin and Mommy took James and enjoyed the 3pm service specifically geared for young children. While he was far from perfectly behaved, the many hymns kept him happy (or at least covered the babbling/fussing). And though we were somewhat disruptive with some light fussing and babbling, and realized after communion that we had taken him to the altar minus one sock, we didn't feel out of place - several stuffed animals dropped from the balcony into the pew in front of us, and Aunt Erin reported that at least one child was rolling in the aisle at one point in the service. Thank you, St. John's Episcopal, for welcoming us to worship with you in such a family-friendly environment!
--Christmas Eve Dinner: traditional (well, our family's tradition!) Swiss Cheese Fondue by Chef Laura! James also started to do what we're officially calling crawling - actually crawling several "steps" across the room to get something (not just the one-armed push-ups, or belly-wriggling/army-crawling he's been doing up to now).
--Christmas Day - spending the entire day with everyone hanging out in Grandma and Grandpa's family room. We started opening gifts while James was still napping, but made sure he sang Jingle Bells (well, Mommy and Daddy had to sing it for him this year) as he came down the steps and into the family room! Funny how Aunt Laura and Uncle Greg remember this tradition with fondness when they no longer have to participate in the singing! We also enjoyed seeing Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, who came over in the afternoon and stayed for dinner.

On Boxing Day, we headed south. James made it several hours before waking up for a rest stop. All the holiday excitement had worn him out! We made a brief stop on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and then within the hour arrived at Nana and Granddad's. Nana and Granddad cooked a delicious holiday turkey AND ham (yeah, you know you're all jealous!), as well as many delicious sides, such as hot doggies wrapped in bacon. James enjoyed his usual sweet potato. As tradition, we celebrated with Christmas crackers and wore paper crowns throughout the dinner. This Christmas was exciting, as Uncle Paul and Aunt Shannen recently got engaged, and Aunt Helen will be moving to England soon to start a new job, but in some ways sad because we know we will miss Aunt Helen when she is across the pond! When we think of all the changes since this time last year, we wonder what many changes and excitement 2010 has in store for us.

Daddy went back to work that Monday, so Mommy and James drove back to Grandma and Grandpa's, since Grandma is a teacher and had a winter break. It's been awhile since Mommy and Grandma got to spend Christmas break together. We enjoyed a visit to Longwood Gardens and toured their vast Christmas display. It was quite a long route and Mommy wished she had packed the stroller! We even got to visit with Miss Jen, which made Mommy very happy since usually when we're visiting for the holidays we're not in town long enough to visit friends. Hope to catch up with more of you next time we're up there!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and wish you much joy in 2010!

And for anyone who hasn't noticed, with this blog you can "cheat" on dates, so I often post-date the entries. So, since that cat's out of the bag, I'm just going to date this one as December 25, even though it covers about a week's worth of fun. Here are some pictures of the holidays:


Christmas with Mommy's family:


Boxing Day with Daddy's family:



Visiting Grandma and Grandpa during Grandma's School Holiday Break: