Christmas 2010...

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We had a GREAT time over this first Christmas as a family of 3, with lots of time with relatives and friends and lots of time to relax together.

My sister Carrie, her husband Lorenzo, and their son Henry came to visit for 5 days from Florida...with Cricket and Bean, their two dogs! Here are some highlights...

Christmas morning

 



Julia obviously didn't have MUCH clue about what was going on...but her normal level of curiosity caused her to check things out...

I gave her a chair from my childhood, which was so sweet to see her in...

And I only got around to making a kid Christmas Craft this year (for one of our nieces and also Julia)...this super-cute pea-in-a-pod plush toy!

(you can find the pattern at one of my new favorite websites HERE)

The gift we were MOST excited about giving Julia in a weird, twisted sort of way was (no lie!)...a stuffed animal shaped like a Staph Infection (in honor of her scary 3rd week of life)!  There's a company called Giant Microbes that makes plush toys of all sorts of different microscopic diseases, if anyone out there needs a unique gift idea for somebody on their list...

(we've named him Staphy)

The dogs spent a lot of time entertaining Julia...

And lots of time sleeping!

Poor little Bean was so cold that I donated an old sweatshirt to the cause, and Carrie came up with this brilliant handiwork:

Julia and Henry seemed to enjoy being with each other...

And all in all, we had an awesome visit together!



We headed to Lancaster for several days after that...and again, neglected to get any pictures with Chad's immediate family! (sigh)  We DID manage to snap a shot of Julia with each great-grandparent...

Pa Miller, Dottie's dad...

And Ma Oberholtzer, Obie's mom...

(who, even in advanced stages of Alzheimer's, still remembered how to hold a baby. That's what 50+ years of faithfully serving in the church nursery will do for you...)

And while we were in town, our friends Jim and Amber Kolmus (from Grace Notes at PSU) drove through, and we got to have our (now-annual) McDonald's Indoor Playland Breakfast Rendezvous!  It was so wonderful to get caught up and to see their 3 kiddos (Ethan, Verity, and Micah).



We had a ton of fun during Christmas 2010...much because we had this little bundle of joy with whom to share it all!

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