A lovely Christmas

It's SO nice to get the family all together to laugh and shout and have a good Christmas all together.  Some of my favorite Christmas memories from this year include a beautiful Christmas breakfast spread- fried crub, cinnamon buns, and TWO kinds of monkey breads.  Obviously, Noel wanted us all to have a Very Merry and Well Fed Christmas.  It was really fun to see Tyler in his PJs playing with his new Christmas toys (including a BALL!), and even though he was still a little sick, he really loved to get packed into a box that Dad converted to a baby sleigh by adding a handle and letting the grown-ups drag him around the house.  He would go all peaceful and have a contemplative suck on a sock dinosaur tail, or wave at the passing family members like the best float in his one-man parade.  And he has such great parents!  They nursed him so gently through the chicken pox, if it weren't for the rash, you'd hardly know he was sick.  Just a

This year's Christmas puzzle was a world map, which was fairly easy while we were putting together countries into continents, and then got really slow as we tried to fill in the remainder of the blue oceans.  Best of luck with that, family!

The award for the biggest gift this year went to Dad, who got a new air compressor of some character that apparently was way better than the old compressor and made him rub his hands together at the prospect of future projects.  The award for most thoughtful gift (or my vote at least), is a tie between Dad's specialty imported Speculoos spread, via our source for all things decadent and Belgian our host sister An- which was a project in the making since October!- and Tyler's gift of artist certified finger-paintings, and portraits of the artist in his labors (ie, naked but for his diaper, head to know in finger paints).  That just puts joy in the heart.

We also got the band back together on Christmas eve, to play through our book of carols.  Some of us were a little rustier than others, (there aren't enough flats in this key signature for half position!) but that just increased the laughs and made it fun.  If we get enough comments, I am sure Noel can release some of the footage of this, or other feats of adorableness.  Like a baby in a snowsuit in his very first snow!

And can I just say, that I got in some fantastic Aunt-ing? I thought to steam up some veggies for Tyler to try out finger foods, but this mostly turned into sweet potato and regular potato paste that stuck to the folds of his chubby wrists and all over his high chair.  Very little appeared to enter his mouth. I tried to let him drink some water, and while he chewed on my glass, I poured about a cup of water all down his onsie (diapers are absorbent, right?).  And I totally indulged him in the joys of shouting happiness at the dinner table (his Nana was mortified, so I know I've done my job well).

Matt and I flew home last night, and Matt somehow managed to get to work this morning.  This promises to be a busy week with another chapter to edit, some promises made about algae and some voice recordings to do for an online game via the science center.  Matt only works 2 days this week, then we get the Noely family back and then we are off to Concrete for New Year's/Third Christmas.