
This past Christmas was a lot of fun for everyone. For the most part, anyway - Teresa had been put on "pelvic rest" by the OB, so she wasn't allowed to move around a lot or lift too much. Still, she made the most of it (and by "the most of it," I mean "lots of cookies and a great Christmas dinner").
As expected, Alex made out the best of anyone. He got loads of presents and didn't have to shop or wrap for anyone! Knowing this was his last Christmas as an only child, we wanted to make sure he had a really good time this year.
First up was Christmas Eve. We drove to NJ and spent time at both Teresa's house and at her Aunt's. We didn't exchange gifts at her mom's because both her brother and father had to work (Scrooge lives on!). We waited until that Saturday to do that.
At Teresa's aunt's house, the whole family got together for dinner and to exchange gifts. The table was, to Teresa's chagrin, loaded with fish as usual. The fried calamari was just ridiculous. I think I now know what food I'd want with me on a deserted island (well, that and a box of Cheez-Its).
Alex made out really well - even though we did a "Secret Santa" thing, the kids (Alex and his new cousin Logan) wound up getting gifts from everyone. Here's a shot of Alex with a t-shirt of his favorite band (no, really, I'm serious).

After we got home later than we had planned, we still had to prep for Christmas. Teresa worked on some of the food for dinner/dessert and I put together Alex's kitchen set. It took us well past midnight, which for a woman in her first trimester is an incredible achievement!
Christmas morning was a blast. We gave Alex a boatload of stuff. The kitchen, a little piano, some Disney stuffed animals to round out his collection (which, by the way, sleeps with him every night in his crib) and a ClickStart computer (he's already mastered the use of a mouse - a true 21st century digital boy) among other things.
The Spread

Ooooooohhhhhh!

Alex in the Kitchen

Metallica's "Master of Puppets" - Piano arrangement by Alexander W. Griggs


Here's Alex with his Mickey's Clubhouse gang - ALL of these go in his crib!

Later in the day, Kenny's family came over and had a nice, long visit. Alex was ever the entertainer and happily played with anyone who came by. Dinner was, as usual, tremendous and contained too much food. Despite Teresa's attempts to throttle back due to the smaller crowd and pregnancy concerns, Kenny managed to slip in enough extra dish ideas to create a surplus of food yet again and make Teresa work too hard. He's sorry. :(
Aunt Debby, Joe and Grandma - if you're reading this, we missed you very much at Christmas and were thinking of you guys. We love you and hope to see you all very soon!
We were also fortunate this Christmas to have Kenny's cousin Gary visit for a couple days. He was on holiday leave from being stationed up in Alaska, so we were glad he took a couple days out of his schedule to visit with us. Despite his guest of honor status, he still couldn't avoid being put to work baking cookies! He's always a very good elf for Teresa around this time of year. :)