Merry Christmas

I can't believe Christmas has already come & gone!

We had a GREAT Christmas spending time with family

& friends & enjoying this special time when we focus

extra attention on the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We feel so blessed to have the wonderful families &

friends that we do...thank you all for being so great!

~

A little summary of our holiday season

I know there are too many pictures, but

I want to have them on here for me, so

if you get bored, tough luck! :)

Cole's first Santa encounter at my mom's family

party, & it actually went well -- no crying!

Cole's cool new truck from Santa. Who knew Santa loves
IKEA as much as I do?! [for the record: ya, I know
I look like a dork in this picture]

My brother, Chris, and his wife, Robyn, are in
town from Boston. YAY! Cole loves to be
entertained by uncle Chris

Cole getting acquainted with aunt Robyn.
She hadn't met him before this visit, so
they've got to make up for lost time :)

Cole tuckered himself out in the jumperoo. Poor little
fella got his first cold the day before Christmas Eve.
He was exhausted all during the holiday celebrations.

Opening presents with Grandma Todd
at the Todd Family Party. It was so fun
to watch the annual "Friendly Beasts" puppet
show & see all the kids open presents!
~
We spent Christmas Eve & Christmas morning
with my family this year. Every year on Christmas
Eve we go out to eat in the afternoon. This year
we went Texas Roadhouse and it was delicious.
Then, on to the annual tradition of graham-cracker
house decorating...
Chris & Kevin went big this year & made
a graham cracker mansion

Christmas morning was lots of fun with Cole
& our niece Ella. Cole, of course, was very
content with wrapping paper & the boxes.
But he's also enjoying the books, push-toy
& wooden IKEA toys he got.

I surprised Dave with a new TV & it was so

much fun to see his reaction! He surprised me

with some pretty jewelry (that he picked out
himself & did a great job with!) and other random

miscellaneous items on my wish list. We also got tickets

to go see Brian Regan when he comes in March. YAY!

...to top off the Christmas Day celebrations,

little Cole Buddy took a tumble & got a black eye.

It was SO sad--it broke my heart! He was reaching

to walk to a close-by chair, but didn't quite make it
& the corner of his eye caught the edge of the chair.

He stopped crying after a minute or two, but I

was devastated the rest of the night. I saw it happening

but couldn't get there fast enough to catch him. I couldn't

believe how quick it started swelling up! So, along

with his very runny nose, he's been sporting a black eye.
~

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas &

that your New Year is Happy!