So This is Christmas

Melanie, Edison, Peter, and I were blessed to have two Christmases this year. We celebrated as a small family on December 16th, the day before we flew out to Utah. Then, on December 25th, we had Christmas again, this time with “extended” family—that is, the families we grew up in.

We took plenty of pictures of our December 16th Christmas, but because I'm in Utah, I only have access to photos from our trip. I thought I'd share some with those of you who are interested. And so, here is a photographic tour of our Utah Christmas, 2008.

In Melanie's childhood home, as in my own, as in many others I suspect, oranges are standard at Christmas. Here is Peter getting ready to take a bite out of one.


Eddie got a bowling set from his Uncle Mark and soon-to-be Aunt Trina. The ball looks like a cow and moos when you roll it, and the “pins” are milk bottles. So far, Eddie prefers having the pins set up and then running and jumping into them himself rather than rolling the ball into them.


Eddie also received some cars, which are one of his favorite things. Here you can see a Mickey Mouse car that drives away if you push down the engine. Just below it, you can see an Elmo car.


Here is Eddie, playing with Peter's gift. I'm not sure what to call it, but it has balls inside and when you push the button on top, as Eddie is here doing, the balls inside start spinning around. It's a pretty cool gift, once again from Uncle Mark and Aunt Trina.


Here is Peter, playing with Eddie's gift. A set of three Curious George books were the perfect gift for Edison, who is quite the Curious George fan at the moment.


Grandma and Grandpa seemed to think Eddie needed a pair of really sharp knives for Christmas.


After opening presents at Melanie's parents' house, we headed to my parents' house. Here's Aunt Khrystine, holding Peter.


Eddie enjoyed the perfect sized glass of hot chocolate that Grandma prepared for him.


We then enjoyed heading to my brother's house, where Peter had the chance to play with his cousin, Hunter, who is just 11 days younger.


The day after Christmas, we decided to go sledding. Peter fell asleep in the car, so I stayed with him while Melanie dragged Edison on a sled to a hill next to a nearby elementary school. It had snowed quite a bit, and the truck we were borrowing did not have functioning four-wheel drive, so we weren't able to pull into the school parking lot. Thus, Melanie ended up having to walk quite a way through deep snow in order to even begin sledding. It wore her out before they'd even begun. (That's Uncle Tom on the right, if you're wondering.)


Edison was worn out after just two trips down the hill. He didn't like the snow flying up in his face as he descended the hill, so he made Melanie bring him back to the truck fairly soon. Due to the depth of the snow, Melanie carried him the whole way. I was happy to be on sleeping-baby watch duty.


My family and I in front of the Christmas Tree at Melanie's parents' house. We did actually get a photo with everyone looking at the camera, but it didn't turn out quite as well as this one. So here you go.

Merry Christmas!