I had my dad do some dirty work and he and Mom dropped by a special package for Jason (more on that later)  a couple days before Christmas. During the visit Dad spent some time getting the train he lent us to work. I love how Alex looks up at his grandpa in this video.

On Christmas Eve we ate a delicious dinner at my aunt’s house and afterward Alex starred as Baby Jesus in our Nativity reenactment. Uncle Tommy and cousin Ginny played important parts as Joseph & Mary.

Alex’s uncle James, Bekah and aunt Jenna harassing the livestock:

Next we went to my parents’ house for a siblings gift exchange. We were there rather late and Alex even got his first peek at Santa Claus putting presents under the tree!

We drove back home that night so we could spend Christmas morning at home with just the three of us. This allowed for a late morning of gift opening and surprise projectile vomiting from baby. He still smiled though as he continued to gnaw on wrapping paper, which is way better than the toy inside.

We drove back down to my other aunt’s house for an early dinner and enjoyed spending time with the family.

Ah, family photo sessions. Aren’t they fun? Here’s one with Alex actually looking at the camera - thanks to the efforts of Mom C. (sans Tim & Kelsey who will be Photoshopped in later)

(our inspiration)

Alex is starting to sit up on his own, which is very exciting for us! This means he has all access to his feet, which provides motivation to stay sitting up. Mmmm, delicious toes.

We got together with some friends and created some gingerbread house masterpieces, some more homemade than others, but all definitely structurally sound and delicious.

Can you guess which couple made which gingerbread house? (*Hint*The order of couples does not match up with the order of houses at all.)

Couple A: Eric & Dalyce

Couple B: Janil & Jonathan

Couple C: Suzy & Spencer

Couple D: Jason & Heather

House 1:

House 2:

House 3:

House 4:

We met up with Jason’s co-worker, Joe. Yeah, I bring my camera everywhere. Sorry Joe, but I have to keep the mommy blog up-to-date.

Alex was very tired by the time Santa showed up. Hence the classic picture of baby crying with Santa. He did smile at him for a second, but sadly, this was not caught on camera. Also, Jason looks like he might be a vampire (oh, my Edward!).

Aside from that, the party was Bethlehem themed. Each family was given a bag of coins so that we could purchase our food in the “market” and pay our taxes. Our friend Eric dressed up as a Pharisee and wore a phylactery (prayer box) on his head. Yeah.

So I took a picture of my curtain (above), found my favorite crop on the design in Photoshop, traced it and played around with the colors (below 1), divided it in half vertically and horizontally (below 2), printed it out, and free-handed the design with a pencil onto four 12″x12″ canvases that make up the whole image. Then I painted it with two contrasting acrylic paint colors.

The almost-finished product:

Just need to varnish it!

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Also, I just hung this frame and wall vases in my dining room. The picture doesn’t really do them justice. Jason says he likes them, but is this too girly?

Rice cereal by candlelight: