Christmas is over, I know. But seeing as I haven't shared ANY pictures from December, let's lump them all together and pretend it was intentional! Here goes, our December 2011 in a nutshell!
We purchased a Cosley Christmas tree as soon as we got home from Thanksgiving in Arizona. Henry was horrified that his shoes were getting muddy (it was raining) and Gray didn't want to be there at all. Happy family memories! :) After putting Gray to bed we immediately strung it with lights...
...stringing....
...hot chocolating...
...still stringing...
...and lit!
Then we decorated. It was our most beautiful tree yet, if this small sample gives you any indication!
And then, the tree didn't drink. And dropped needles if you breathed on it. And still didn't drink. Dead. So we unlit and undecorated, Eric loaded the tree back on the van, and returned to Cosley for another one. Thank goodness this one worked!
Every time the boys visited Gammie & Gampie's they had to feed Doris, the reindeer. Last year she preferred Wheat Thins, but apparently 2011 is all about the Teddy Grahams. Gray is a big helper with Doris, as you can imagine.
Gammie, Nan, Bop, and Aunt Chocolate took the boys to Rainforest Cafe for the first time. From what I hear, it was a huge hit!
I channeled my inner child and made angel sugar cookies with Henry. Yes, I remembered that you don't frost them before you bake...
Between preschool, Sunday church, and Wednesday morning church, Henry made his fair share of Christmas-themed crafts. This one is my favorite.
Of course we had to make a gingerbread house (it was on the Christmas bucket list, after all!), but of course, Eric's inner architect had to deviate from the box. Here is our creation.
I imagine little Japanese gingerbread people would be very fond of this house.
We have had SO MUCH FUN with every single aunt and uncle in town, from California, Colorado, North Carolina and Boston. Here is Henry with Uncle Kyle (not pictured: Uncle Chris), on their way to an uncle/nephew GameStop and McDonald's ice cream date.
All of Memaw's kids were able to work at the annual Christmas Store...Eric worked the morning shift so he isn't pictured. It was fun to see everyone in action, and the Store went so well. Way to go, Mom!
Couldn't leave this one out...a piper piping, perhaps?
(The deserted mall late at night does strange things to normal people.)
Lina, Memaw, and Daddy took turns running after Henry and Gray at
First Trust's Christmas party while I was busy playing Santa's elf,
handing out gifts to over 200 kids!
Henry wasn't quite as terrified of Santa as he was last year--fist bumps and high fives were freely given! Henry also made sure Santa knew he wanted a scoreboard and shoulderpads for Christmas.
Big brothers and little brothers
Sweet Gray was tuckered out by the end of the night.
Or perhaps he was tuckered out because we forced him to do this, all for the sake of a good picture?? (Which I do not regret at all, by the way! This picture is classic!)
Gammie & Gampie watched the boys overnight so Eric & I could go downtown for Eric's old work party. They went to the Morton Arboretum model train exhibit and loved it (above).
It was so fun to get to go to Eric's party because it was on the 30th floor of the Blue Cross Blue Shield building, a space Eric worked on for countless hours. The view wasn't bad either!
Last weekend we went for a Christmas light drive. The boys had already seen these Disney cut outs with Gam and Gamps, and Henry was so excited to show it to Eric & I! The pictures aren't very good, but this neighborhood made such a fun display.
Toy Story
Little Mermaid (my personal favorite)
Then we found this gem. Pictures do not do it justice.
The house even had a glass garage door complete with a winter scene inside. An LED sign invited you to leave your car and get up close, hence a freezing Henry in his jammies.
Happy boys in the car!
Official Christmas festivities kicked off on Thursday night, when Grandma made sukiyaki for us! Apparently this was her specialty dish years ago, but this is the first time any of us grandkids had heard of it, let alone tasted it. Delicious!
We had a whole list of Christmas movies we had to watch, and the final one was Elf. Memaw, Uncle Kirk, Aunt Lina, and Coach Dartt came to watch with us. Gray stayed up way past his bedtime because he was so into it!
Don't make me go to sleep!
We squeezed in making Christmas cookies at the last second. Here we are rolling out the dough...and eating a lot of it
.
Decorating with Lina and Kirk...we had to switch out quite a few frosting utensils because someone kept licking them.
Gorgeous, no? Actually they tasted great, so that is all that matters to me.
Somehow pictures of the Bradley Family White Elephant gift exchange are elusive; I personally spent most of the evening following Gray up and down the stairs. :) It was fun though--we packed nearly 40 people into Memaw's house for dinner & gifts!
Annual Christmas Eve Brunch at Stough's...here Henry and Connor are hard at work putting together Connor's new Legos.
We attended the 4 pm children's service at church for the first time in years. Henry did okay throughout (although he did ask quite loudly "Where is Santa up there??" Oops.).
Then more traditions...Christmas Eve fondue at Memaw's
Another reason why I wish Christmas Eve happened more than once a year
Henry wasn't too sure about sharing his cookies with Santa, so we put out the last, ugly, broken one, along with some milk and carrots for the reindeer.
Finally, Christmas morning! We had all the aunts/uncles/grandparents that were in town over for breakfast and present opening.
The scoreboard makes an appearance! Somewhere there is a video of Henry opening it...a pretty classic response!
first Kansas football jersey
plates! (how exciting for a one-year-old, right?)
Awesome. New basketball shorts in Henry's current signature hike-em-up-high style.
Twins. :)
My boys
Relaxing
December 26th was Christmas morning part 2, complete with another visit from Santa and more gifts at Gammie & Gampie's. Henry received his much-longed for shoulderpads! (Who in their right mind makes shoulder pads for a 30 pounder??)
Snuggles with cousin Madeleine
Identifying birds in the "bird bible" with Gam
Terrorizing poor Luka
Baseball Guys from Aunt Emily & Uncle Mason
The whole Jahnke crew!
Sweet smiles with Nan
The best we could do of Nan & Bop with the three grandkids
Only picture of the four of us from all the Christmas gatherings & activities (that I know of)!
More silly snuggles with Madeleine (who is in her special place, thumb in mouth and stroking Bear Bear)
Phew! Christmas is officially done...until I find some more must-share pictures.
