Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 came and went with the usual whirlwind!

We celebrated with our kids on Christmas Eve, starting with lunch, appetizers, and gifts in the afternoon, then church and dinner. Since I have several services to play for (4:00 and 10:30), we have to fit everything in between my mad dashes out the door with armloads of music. We had the added distraction this year of a non-heating hot tub, a plumber trying to figure out the problem and offering advice, and then a decision to drain it. Always something!

The tree was overloaded with gifts, as usual,

and the table looked great!

The guys spent some down-time before the grand opening.

Kyle found his favorite chair,

and Corey played Santa.

Charlie was the star attraction as he celebrated his first Christmas.

Between teething and a bad cold, we were "mopping the deck" with kleenex all afternoon. Poor baby! He was in a great mood, though, and had fun learning how to open the packages.

Hmmmm, wonder what silly remark Chuck just made?

He loved these little characters on wheels - thanks, Phebe!

He also loved the wrapping paper!

He'll be hammering on this workbench before we know it!

Charlie loves his cousin, Maddox!

So big!

Maddox is really good with him, and he had fun helping Charlie play with some of his new toys!

Corey still plays a mean drum.

See the expression in Maddox's eyes?

Corey caught it perfectly in his present to us, a 16x20 original oil painting! It's now hanging in our entryway, and it may find it's way to the mantle after all the Christmas decorations are put away. Awesome!!
Chuck's brother, Ken, and his friend Kim joined us in the evening for a ham dinner. After dessert, Jenna, Andy, and Charlie headed back to the Cities so they could get packed up for their Christmas Day flight to Pittsburgh to visit Andy's family. We picked them up and took them to the airport around noon and then went to Corey's for more presents and lunch.

Corey is a great host, and he makes a fantastic carmel latte!

Kyle entertained Maddox, or vice versus?

He really gets into opening gifts!

Corey got him an easel with all the accessories. Maddox will be able to paint right along with his dad!

Oh, a shirt - how boring!

A Spiderman hippity-hop!

What could this be?

Joyce and Paul joined us for a lunch of chili, cinnamon rolls, pineapple, and cheese sticks (sounds like a CF school lunch!).

After lunch, we all piled into cars and went to a movie. The guys went to True Grit, and Joyce and I took Maddox to Gulliver. We missed our usual gathering with the Catlin clan this year, but they were in Illinois visiting Tom and Kim. We'll get together in January!

Chuck and I took a quick trip to Two Harbors on Monday and Tuesday. We were going to go up on Sunday and do some skiing at Lutsen, too, but plans changed because we had to hang around to deal with the hot tub issue. When we discovered on Monday morning that we couldn't get a technician to come out right away, Chuck bought a space heater, set it up under a canvas to keep eveything from freezing up, and off we went.

We stopped at Scenic Cafe for an early dinner. What a beautiful setting, and even better food!

We brought lots of presents for Chuck's mom, some for Christmas and some for her 85th birthday, which she will be celebrating next week!

It was such a quick trip that I didn't even take any pictures of all the snow. We'll have to get back up north again this winter, hopefully for some skiing next time!

Now it's about time to take down all the decorations,

and put them away for another year.

The house always looks so bare after all the decorations are gone, but it's always good to start fresh in a brand new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!