Day after Christmas, Ilion
We used to do all four Christmases in one fell swoop on Christmas Day... but that got very overwhelming. Now we do immediate families on Christmas Day and travel to my grandparents on the 26th. This means that we miss out on seeing some of my cousins, but at least we're not completely burned out!
We started the day at my in-laws house
Can you tell I got a new camera lens for Christmas?
I can't remember the specs off the top of my head, but it has a wider face to allow more light in.
I love it.
When it was naptime, we loaded the boys up in the car for the 90-minute drive to Ilion. Thankfully, they both napped nearly the whole way!
There was immediate playing
Ben is so intent and focused on whatever he's doing now that I hardly get a picture with his face!
Leo is usually content to sit and play in a location that's good for pictures
Karen and Chad drove down from Massena on the 26th as well.
Yep, more playing
This was the part of Christmas where Ben and Leo both received approximately 35,000 toys and we realized just how many fire truck toys are sold in New York during the holiday season! Honestly, I only think there was one repeated fire truck among all the different iterations. It was insane!
I got a very nice pair of wind chimes from my uncle Bob (we do an aunt/uncle/cousin gift exchange each year) and Jake got a gas card and a Barnes & Noble gift card from my cousin Cody. By this point we were completely overwhelmed with gifts and the sheer AMOUNT of presents that were opened all around. It was a very, very generous Christmas.
We left Ilion after having lots of delicious food and drink, and drove back to my parent's house to (finally) eat the roast beef my mother had hoped to cook for Christmas Eve dinner.
Leo had lots of fun in this rocker
After dinner, we had Chad's Christmas. More presents!
Ben was an old pro by this time. He would bring another and another present to Chad, saying "Chad, open dis one!" or starting to rip into it himself.
Eventually, we sent him to sit with Nana and read a book so Chad could be left alone.
I made some hot water for tea, and Dad decided he wanted spiced cider 'with a little something extra' in it.
Leo decided he wanted to sample some Jack.
*No, he didn't actually drink any alcohol, just had fun gumming the cap*
This is when Ben started feeling poorly and would lead up to his awful coxsackievirus episode
We started the day at my in-laws house
Can you tell I got a new camera lens for Christmas?
I can't remember the specs off the top of my head, but it has a wider face to allow more light in.
I love it.
When it was naptime, we loaded the boys up in the car for the 90-minute drive to Ilion. Thankfully, they both napped nearly the whole way!
There was immediate playing
Ben is so intent and focused on whatever he's doing now that I hardly get a picture with his face!
Leo is usually content to sit and play in a location that's good for pictures
Karen and Chad drove down from Massena on the 26th as well.
Yep, more playing
This was the part of Christmas where Ben and Leo both received approximately 35,000 toys and we realized just how many fire truck toys are sold in New York during the holiday season! Honestly, I only think there was one repeated fire truck among all the different iterations. It was insane!
I got a very nice pair of wind chimes from my uncle Bob (we do an aunt/uncle/cousin gift exchange each year) and Jake got a gas card and a Barnes & Noble gift card from my cousin Cody. By this point we were completely overwhelmed with gifts and the sheer AMOUNT of presents that were opened all around. It was a very, very generous Christmas.
We left Ilion after having lots of delicious food and drink, and drove back to my parent's house to (finally) eat the roast beef my mother had hoped to cook for Christmas Eve dinner.
Leo had lots of fun in this rocker
After dinner, we had Chad's Christmas. More presents!
Ben was an old pro by this time. He would bring another and another present to Chad, saying "Chad, open dis one!" or starting to rip into it himself.
Eventually, we sent him to sit with Nana and read a book so Chad could be left alone.
I made some hot water for tea, and Dad decided he wanted spiced cider 'with a little something extra' in it.
Leo decided he wanted to sample some Jack.
*No, he didn't actually drink any alcohol, just had fun gumming the cap*
This is when Ben started feeling poorly and would lead up to his awful coxsackievirus episode