A Very Merry Christmas

This year, like last, the Beaudoin family celebrated Christmas at the Wojo house. Unlike last year, there were two cute little reindeer celebrating! It's hard to believe that I was in the post-baby, tired, nursing haze at Christmas just one year ago. When I looked back through all my blog posts the other day, I noticed that last year's Beaudoin Christmas didn't even get a mention! And when I try to remember it, I really can't. One's state of being is truly, greatly altered in the days just after having a child. I was able to be a more active participant this year, and it was great! We enjoyed lots of good food, games, conversation, and laughter.

Although Curt was on call for the entire holiday and weekend, we had a great time together. My siblings came up Thursday afternoon to have supper, hang out, and play games. My parents came up Friday just as supper was getting done. Ben made us a delicious, nearly home-made spaghetti with Italian sausage, following the Beaudoin tradition of Christmas Eve spaghetti that began at Grandma's many years ago. We followed it up with an equally fabulous chocolate souffle-like dessert made by Brea. Heavenly! My parents headed out Saturday morning, as did Andrew & Brea, who had another family Christmas to attend.

Curt was able to stay home through Friday night's meal and much of the gift opening, catching the grown-ups for a game later that night. He stayed really busy the rest of the weekend, so it was nice to have family time when he could be around. Carter really had no idea what was going on while we opened presents, but he was excited by the paper-and-box-heavy atmosphere. Jackson insisted on helping Carter open everything, of course, which worked fine this year, but Carter might have something to say about it next Christmas!

One of my favorite things about the weekend was how much time we got to spend with Ben. Whenever he comes up here, he's always with either my parents (mostly) or Brea & Andrew, so he's always on someone else's time schedule. For the holiday he drove himself up in his own vehicle, and he happened to have several days off, so he stayed with us till Monday morning. This has literally never happened before, so it was really nice for my little family to get some time alone with Uncle Ben. I felt that he got to know my kids a little better and interact with them on a more personal level. We had lots of fun playing outside together, and the grown-ups watched a couple movies and played a few more games, which is always a good time. Ben being such a laid-back guy made it easy for us not to feel pressured to be entertaining him constantly, so while we did do things together, we also did our own things from time to time while he played with the kids. We really enjoyed some extra quality time with Uncle Ben.

Playing with a mesmerizing new toy

Reading a Christmas book with Auntie Brea

Of course the kids got tons of presents! Afterward, I wondered why I even bought them any. Then I remembered it was because I couldn't resist. :)

The boys got matching knit hats from "Santa." Two of the three can pull of wearing this kind of head gear. I'll let you guess about the third.

A tender moment: My grandma, who passed away three years ago around Thanksgiving, had written in a journal. During our Beaudoin girls' weekend in November, certain pages of the journal were read. On one she noted that she had always cherished this red apple trinket my dad had purchased for her when he was a kid. She always had it on display in her house, and it was one of the many items my aunt brought that weekend for us to pick and choose from. Mom took it home and wrapped it up for Dad for Christmas, along with a photocopy of the journal page. Needless to say, there were some tears shed as we took a moment to remember Grandma.

Mama and her Christmas baby!

Us three big kids taking a rare sibling photo

Grandma, Papa, and the grandkids. The kids had had about enough of taking pictures by this point, hence the phony smile and the yawn.

Grandma Paula and Carter enjoying some face-to-face time. Open-mouthed kisses ensued.

Making funny faces at the table while singing "Toast" from the Bob and Tom radio show! Ben sang it for him and got him going, and Jackson sang along while Ben played it on his CD. J's favorite part: "Yeah, TOAST!" Hilarious.

Playing outside with Mommy, Daddy, and Ben.