Holidays 2011

We're having a good holiday season! We're currently still enjoying Christmas - our tree and decorations are still up. Whoops. We didn't get them up until the week before Christmas, though, so that makes it a bit more excusable, right? Putting them away might be a good project for this week, though, huh? We did get our Advent wreath off of our kitchen table a couple weekends ago, though - baby steps, right? ;-)

Thanksgiving day I had to work. We had three codes on a patient who had overdosed on medication, and the patient ended up dying anyway. Made for a really sad day at work - I was physically exhausted (from doing chest compressions) and emotionally drained by the time I left. I went home to shower after work and then went over to my family's house to celebrate with all of them. Aaron and Julia had already gone over there earlier in the day. Aaron and Julia had done a craft together earlier that morning - a Thanksgiving hat! She looked so cute!

Fun times with Uncle Erik

Mommy and Julia!  Note the paper on the floor - during our annual Thankgiving day viewing of the holiday classic, "Elf," Sarah and I kept up the accompanying snowflake cutting tradition.  Much fun was had.

Silly!

"Do you like my feathers?"

Stairmaster!

You found me!

We had a three day weekend, so the next day, we drove up to Wichita to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aaron's family. We had a fun weekend with all of them, including a trip to the mall on Saturday to visit Jessica at work and to meet Santa!

Looking at ducks.

Trying to decipher the quacking.

Walking with help from grandpa.

Playing at the mall.

Shiny!

Not sure what to make of the jolly old man.

We're fans of St. Nick.

Julia & Santa!

You gotta start 'em early. Julia studies the cards carefully, ready to make a move.

The week before Christmas, Aaron's family came down to Tulsa to celebrate with us. Aaron had a four day weekend and I had off Christmas day and the day after. We spent time celebrating with my family on Christmas Eve when I got off early (hooray!) and on Christmas day.

"On Dasher!  On Dancer!  On Prancer and Vixen!"

Julia loves to rip paper.

"Are you sure that I just allow gravity to pull me down this sloped red plastic?"

One of these things is not like the other.  Complexion-wise, I think Julia's going to have to blame me for the Caspar the Friendly Ghost look.

Stephen explaining his Christmas gifts.

Cheesing it up with the Cheese Bags from Aaron's grandparents.

Julia being pretty in her dress, coat, and bonnet on the way home from Christmas morning mass.

Julia with her new kitchen from Grammy & Grandpa.  Don't let her face fool you... she actually really loves it.

Julia talking to the Totoro that Meghan sewed for Sarah.

So happy together!

All of us!

The day after Christmas, Aaron, Julia, and I spent a lovely day together. We went to Freddy's for lunch, went to the pet store to look at animals (Julia was in heaven and learned a few new words: "hiss" for the snakes we saw, "fih" for fish, and "muh" for mouse), and walked around Rhema that night to look at lights.

Julia's meal looks filling and healthy, doesn't it?

Julia is jubilant with her strength renewed from the two french fries she ate for lunch.  (Don't report me to DHS because I am just kidding about her lunch, of course ;-)

The Abominable Snowjulia and me

Julia looks a bit put out about being bundled so much that she could not move.

Yay for Christmas lights and family and a much needed day off!

One way we extended our Christmas celebrations at our house was through our Christmas present to Julia - 12 new board books for the 12 days of Christmas. She loves to read so it was fun to sit down together every night with a new book. We probably enjoy the infusion into our little people library as much as Julia does - it's great to have more variety!

New Years Eve was fun, too; we spent it at Meghan and Erik's house with friends and family, playing games, eating yummy food, and visiting. A highlight of the evening was playing a 20 minute game of Catan with techno music and people dancing in the background, right before midnight. It was epic, both for its speed, intensity, and setting. For us nerds, it was a pretty perfect way to ring in the new year.