Christmas 2010

Christmas was a bit different for us as a family this year, as James had to work the entire weekend. Due to that fact, we visited with family both before and after the holiday...stretching our Christmas festivities out for almost an entire month! Well, it seemed that way, anyway.

We went to James' parent's house the Thursday before Christmas and celebrated with them as well as James' brother and his family. The kids enjoyed visiting with their older cousins!



Ryan and Grandma (don't mind Ryan's fingers in his mouth...we recently went to the dentist and found out he has 2 loose teeth...he's just wiggling, here :))

Ella excited to be opening presents


Ryan, too


The older Carlson cousins from left to right: Michael (12), Joshua (16), and Christopher (14)

Ella 'helping' Uncle Dan (no, not James with a mustache) open his presents

Though James had to work, his schedule was such that he was able to be home with us Christmas morning. We all slept until about 7:30, then awoke to the face of a sweet little boy, "blankies" held up to his face in anticipation, asking if we could go downstairs to see if Santa had been here. He, of course, had. We woke Ella up and went down the stairs as a family. Ryan ran by the tree and all the gifts and went straight to the plate of cookies we had set out the night before. He exclaimed with the pure joy that "Santa DID eat the cookies we left for him!"

Our Christmas tree!



Checking out the "loot"

This is the first year Ella has been interested in opening presents!

Once the presents were opened, we enjoyed a delicious brunch and just soaked up our time together before James had to go into work. The rest of the weekend was pretty low key...kind of nice, actually.

The kids were really excited about Santa this year. I know there are many Christians out there who don't like to "celebrate" with Santa and such, but I really think it is harmless, and it is such a short lived experience for children to believe in the magic (not as in black magic) of Santa. We did, however, choose to talk a lot this season about the fact that while we open presents on Christmas, that the real reason we celebrate is because of the presence of Jesus and how He was born into this world so that we might be saved. I know that Ryan knows that this is the real reason, because I overheard him (ever so sweetly) explaining it to Ella in his 5 year old terms. He was pretty right on, I must say.

The day after Christmas, James' sister and family came to visit. We enjoyed a nice lunch with them and a few hours of visiting, before they headed back home to the Adirondacks! Apparently, I didn't take any pictures during their visit!

After the New Year, we made the trip to Maine to see my family. We stopped first to see my Uncle and his wife, and then drove on to my Mom's house the following day. "Mimi" really enjoyed spending time with her grandkids, and they enjoyed spending time with her! Ryan (at one point) said the he didn't ever want to leave Mimi's house!


Mimi enjoying the time with her grandkids

Ryan was quite content to sit on the couch with Sammy (Mom has had this cat since I went off to college in 1995...whoa!)


Mimi and Ella having a morning tea party


Cheesers

We had an uneventful trip, and for that we were very thankful!

Now, we are back to reality around here. Back to school, back to work, back to...um...laundry!