lots of Christmas fun

We're finally recovering from the whirlwind of Christmas 2010!  What a jam packed adventure filled with family, food, and fun . . . we are blessed!

I haven't done a very good job of posting pictures lately, so hang on to your hats - this post is packed!

Pre-Christmas

We tried to get a family photo before church one Sunday, but didn't have much luck getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time.

Braden loves pickles, and will eat 4-5 of them in one sitting if we'd let him.  To commemorate his love of pickles, I got him a pickle ornament, which he was thrilled about.  B did a super job again this year with not touching the tree/leaving the ornaments alone.  We use the "1 finger" rule, and allow him to touch the tree with only one finger, which has worked very well.  However, we made an exception to the rule with the pickle, and he loved to carry his beloved pickle around the house,

This is our ornament for 2010 - Go Cubs, Go!  My parents have a tradition that they add an ornament signifying a special event/trip for each year to their tree, and we've adopted the same tradition, although I've decided to have our ornaments all be photo ornaments with a picture of us. This year's picture was taken at Wrigley.

Let the Celebrating Begin!
Celebration #1:  Christmas Eve morning at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house
B was very excited to open gifts this year . . .

 . . . and was also excited about the bows . . .

 . . . and was more than willing to help everyone unwrap!

 When B opened his Little People Noah's Ark, he exclaimed, "Oooohhhhh!" - it was so fun to see the joy on his face!

Celebration #2: Christmas Eve night at Great Grandma Boese's house

Celebration #3: Christmas morning at home:

We slept in (yay!), then read the Christmas story and opened gifts.  Braden opened some new tractors first, and wasn't very interested in anything else that followed . . .

We enjoyed baked stuffed french toast for our Christmas breakfast - yum!

Celebration #4: Christmas day at Phil & Judy's for the Miller family gathering
We enjoyed a fabulous Christmas dinner, then as is our tradition (loved by some, not-so-loved by others), we sang The 12 Days of Christmas according to our assigned glassware.

 Dad is always "5 Gold Rings"


It gets a little silly . . .

Dinner was followed by the opening of gifts . . .

 . . . and family photo taking (Ethan wasn't diggin it this year) - this is the 3rd generation (2nd cousins) .

 The whole gang! (Minus Aubree's fiance, John, represented by the traditional paper plate stand in)


And, last but certainly not least,
Celebration #5: Sunday at Grandpa & Grandma Hartsock's
We again ate a tasty meal . . .

  . . . followed by even more presents!

Look who got a tractor!

We played (and tackled) . . .

 . . . tried out the Kinect (I will refrain from posting videos) ;) . . .



  . . . and cuddled the puppies

Braden even got to sample some cake Addie made in her new easy bake oven (note chocolate-y face), and then crashed for a nap (note sleeeepy eyes).  He finally laid down for a nap while we played games, but unfortunately woke up crying (and probably in pain) - we found out after a trip to see Dr. Miller that B had developed an ear infection. :(

Whew!  What a crazy fun few days.  Now we're trying to figure out where to put all B's loot (I purchased some new bins/baskets to attempt to organize all the toys), and are recovering and relaxing and enjoying sleeping in and spending time at home.