Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas this year. My sister V came up to visit, and we had such fun spending time with her. I'm glad that she got to spend some time with Lucy, especially since she is growing and changing so quickly (and to top it off, V was not up here for Thanksgiving last month, when the rest of my family was in town). I'm also glad that V got to be with Sam on Christmas, which is such an exciting day for him.

We had a nice Christmas morning with V and my in laws. This was the first year that we had Christmas in our own home, so we tried to do things that could potentially turn into traditions. We intended on just looking at our stockings before breakfast, but we ended up opening presents too, since my father-in-law had to go to work. For breakfast J made ninety-minute cinnamon rolls with some really amazing icing, and I think that we will continue to have these delicious rolls in the years to come.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. We also had fun today with some cousins in the area before V had to fly back home, but we were so busy visiting that I forgot to pull out my camera for pictures.

On Christmas Eve morning Sam and J went with the cub scouts to pass out breakfasts to the homeless people in Pioneer Square. I think this is a great tradition and I hope we continue it in the years to come. In this photo J and Sam are riding on the bus to Pioneer Square with Sam's friend Leo.

Christmas Eve

Lucy with Gram on Christmas morning!

When J was growing up, his parents would take a picture of each child with the gifts that they received. As an adult, J has enjoyed looking back at those pictures to remember his toys and people who gave him those gifts. He wanted to be sure that we started the same thing for Sam this year. So far, Sam has enjoyed playing with his Angry Birds Transformers telepods, the magformers, and the Pokemon cards.

 

Lucy's big present was a jumper toy. She loves it! She also got some gifts, but she was more excited about the wrapping paper and ribbons than what actually was wrapped inside!

Christmas breakfast with our crowns from our crackers (although Lucy is wearing a separate crown that was a gift from V). Lucy also tried solid food (rice cereal) for the first time on Christmas morning, which was fun. She has been really interested in eating food (and even would practice masticating her little jaws while she watched us eat), while helped me realize that she was ready for trying to eat something new.

 

 We went to Zoo Lights for the first time this year with V, and it was really fun. One of my favorite displays was of the giant octopus on top of the aquarium (you can see some of its tentacles on the far right side of this photo).

 Sam with his glowing light saber that he carried around Zoo Lights

We are wearing semi-matching outfits from my sister C