Christmas 2011

This last Christmas was one of my all-time favorites.  Caleb understood about opening presents, although he was very patient about it.  He loved the lights outside and on the tree and all the family time.  He even got into a sleeping-in routine during the break which we all enjoyed.  He still hated Santa and seems to have very little understanding about Jesus, although he does say his name which is adorable.  We enjoyed lots of time with friends and neighbors and phone/skyping with family.  Here are a bunch of our favorite pictures from the month of December.

Christmas Eve breakfast with friends at the church.

Christmas morning with my little boy.

I love holding him. :)

Oh the Christmas lights!

 Discovering ornaments together.

 

 Our Christmas Eve Family Photo.

Christmas Eve girls

Christmas Eve boys

There are few things I find more beautiful than a Christmas tree. :)

One day I decided I wanted to do a Christmas activity WITH Caleb, so I decided to try stuffing oranges with cloves.  Classic Christmas craft, right?  Well I was SO happily surprised to find that he was really good at it and we totally did it TOGETHER!  So fun!  (I told him to smile and show me the orange and he thought that meant: lick the orange...)

We got to spend Christmas day dinner with lots of friends: our neighbors Dorothy & Bud and their family, the Cannons and their other guests and the Bushmans.  It was so nice to feel so loved and included on Christmas.  Nadia of course took care of Caleb for us while we ate at the adult table and Caleb had a ball chasing and tackling poor sweet Harry.

Tyler very specifically wanted to get Caleb his first BYU shirt for Christmas this year and Tyler got a new one from my parents.  So they put them on for some game after Christmas.  I think they look pretty cute here!

Some bath, I don't know what day... maybe Christmas since Tyler was trying out his new camera!

This is one of the HIT toys from Grandma.  It's a little CD player with two karaoke microphones.... toddler heaven! We've had to talk a lot about not playing with the actual CDs and scratching them, but now that he understands that, it's a great toy!  My mom also sent lots of new children's CDs that he loves.

Testing out the new camera...

Does it get any cuter??

Now some photos not edited by Tyler and/or taken with the snap 'n shoot....

So glad the Reiks moved into our ward!!

Caleb & Harry

Christmas Dinner, adult table

Out on a date!  We saw A Christmas Carol on the stage.  LOVED it!

What's Christmas time without a trip to Costco??

We went to a mall north of town we haven't been to before so I could cash in on a Groupon massage and found this store.  Classic.

Lunch at Panera one day.

 Jamie's Baby Shower @ Cheesecake Factory

The Goods from the youth service project we organized.  We sent all this stuff to some military personnel for Christmas.  Tyler and I got to do the final sorting, packing and shipping.  It was quite the job in the end!!

Driving a huge lights show with the Pringles in Wheeling.  Caleb was pretty entertained!

Eating at our favorite place Thai place downtown on a date!

I've decided that eating a classic German dinner is part of our Christmastime traditions.  Breaded, pan-fried beef, kluse, mixed cooked veggies and gravy over it all.  YUM!

Treat-making and delivering.

Our sweet neighbors, Mandy, Joe & Ian, stopped by one day with presents for both of our little boys.  Caleb got 2 hats and 2 trucks and our little baby received his first onesies just for him.

Showing the truck to Ian, even though he picked it out.  The Steelers were playing that day and I WISH I would have gotten a picture of Mandy with her outfit - Steelers all the way to her earrings!

Just about to eat our Christmas Eve fondue.

Cheese!  I love Christmas!

(This was actually at Eat n Park sometime during the break... We decided we had to eat there once before leaving Pittsburgh.)