A Christmas Story (and Other Celebrations)

It has been a crazy Christmas Vacation with many celebrations including: the 3FL Superbowl; Christmases 2, 3a and 3b; Thad's birthday; New Years and Pap's birthday. We even had our own Ralphie!



On Christmas Eve, after church and before reading Polar Express, we decided to sit for a nice family portrait. Then we read our story, set out the cookies and carrots and went to bed as quickly as possible so Santa wouldn't skip our house (which he does if you're not sleeping).



The next morning we continued our month long gift extravaganza with Christmas #2. Santa's gifts were left under the real tree by the fireplace.



Mom and Dad's gifts were under the artificial tree in the living room.



On Friday we went down to Gram and Pap's house for Christmas 3a.



With gifts from and to the four of us, Gram and Pap, Aunt Julie and Uncle Tim, Uncle Brian, Aunt Steppie and Evy, half of the living room was unavailable for seating.



We thought for sure the kids would be the most spoiled during the holidays, but it ended up being us. Stacey and I got a Wii! As you can sii, I was more than a little excited.



Ben's favorite gift, on the other hand, was the box his blocks came in.



Thad's birthday was on New Years Eve. That morning we went to the Carnegie Science Center to see the huge model railroad and several other exhibits. A group of us also went across the street to Bodies... the Exhibition, which was fantastic. We celebrated Thad's birthday with a "Terrible Cake" (and more presents).



I know you were wondering where Christmas 3b fit in. Our extended family can't resist buying gifts for the kids, too.





We concluded our trip with a visit to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Their Dinosaur Hall was recently redone and I must say they did a tremendous job. Even with the T-Rex not ready yet, the new environments with interactive touch-screen kiosks really helped you picture what it was really like.



I'm pretty sure that turtle could have had Hannah for a snack.



Add to that the eating out, going to movies and Dave and Busters and spending a lot of time with family; it was a wonderful trip! We also decided to come home on Friday so we would have the weekend to recover before heading back to work. That is also working out very well.

Thanks to everyone for the gifts and all the fun times. Believe it or not, Gram has already started thinking about Hannah's birthday!