Holiday Wrap-up 2007

On our way out to church on Christmas Eve, I spied this scene amidst the kids'
stuff. I suppose Mary and Joseph would have appreciated the lift
from Santa on his gift train. Much comfier than the donkey.

All dressed up and looking handsome!
And JUST like his Daddy!

Emme tries her hand at keeping the Big Chunk in one place!

A change of outfit for my little Santa Baby.
Erin is this official baby holder of the moment.

Eamon finds his favorite lap for a little visit with Grammy!

Christmas Eve at Uncle Mikey's is a little Eamon-heavy on pictures.
The big boys disappeared with their cousins and I found out why!
Who needs new toys when Harry has all these cool things to play with?

It's hard to look menacing while chomping a cookie!

The big kids taught Colin how to track
Santa's movements around the globe.

Santa finally arrived and a VERY tired little elf
wonders where his own beard could be?

The Tree of Plenty
Christmas morning at our house was an exercise in (over) abundance!

Liam was very methodical this year and had more fun carting his gifts
around (especially in his new dump truck) than opening them!

Clara enjoyed her stocking stuffers too!

Eamon enjoyed eating all of his gifts.
Note: I'm not putting up the million pictures of him
being pissed when we took wrapping paper
(aka manna) out of his mouth.

The morning ended on a wondrous note when the boys discovered their
new doll house! They really love it and have had big adventures
such as "taking the pets to the vet", bringing the "trashcan to the dump"
and "putting the baby on his changing table". All of these things
are particularly fun in "doll house world". How many years until I
have to give them an allowance to get these chores done in real life???

The Christmas festivities moved next to Grammy and Grampy's house.
Check out their little Italian boy on his first Christmas!

Look quickly and see if you can count all 10 grandkids.
Five minutes after this you wouldn't have found
a one of them amid the unwrapping disaster zone!

We celebrated New Years at Joan and Eddie's with lasagna and chicken soup
for the grown-ups but Colin was a little confused about the holiday.
He decided that we needed a birthday cake "for the world".
It took three cans of frosting, three types of sprinkles and a billion candles
to make it right. (They form "2008" on top, but almost started
an inferno when we tried to light them all)

More gifts! Colin proudly shows off his new
favorite movie,courtesy of Auntie Joan and Uncle Eddie.
He really does have a penchant for cooking and when he was
choosing careers before bed last night, the only one
he could think of that topped Chef in terms of fun was
a Firefighter. I guess it is hard to resist ladders and fire hoses.

More fun with bows.
He's a mix between a Baby New Year and a warped Flapper.

Liam and Auntie Kelly put their mitts up for some New Years Day boxing.

Liam showed that the best presents come in reused bags with big shiny bows!

Eamon takes a well-deserved nap with Viriginia.
Fortunately, he never lacks for a lap to sit on!

Erin, Nat and Silas came to visit from California!
Silas and Eamon had a lot to talk about.
Mainly, Eamon gave his tips on how to keep his hair neatly coiffed and
Silas offered pointers about how to crawl and cruise around on things!

Nat helps the boys play almost nicely together!
I think this was before Liam gave Colin a bloody nose. (No, seriously.)