Chicago xmas day 2

Wasted no time in toasting the holidays.. and we seem to keep 'toasting' non stop for the rest of the week.. And while Rebecca, Joan, and Rachel raised a glass,

Uncle Jason emailed Santa asking for goodies he wanted for Christmas. And take a look at all those stockings Santa has to fill.. (thats a lot of coal).

It was so nice to be home, to see old sites and new. There was a lot of christmas memoribilia from when I was a kid. This advent calender-

with daily little tchotckes that my amazing mom hand made. I remember playing with these hoping that time would just hurry up already..

Another simple and fun design. Very impressive mom!

This was another xmas artifact that goes back some 30 years. Its also a kid magnet, as you just want to grab all these neat little toys that are attached to this..

Its already been through three boys, a couple dogs, and who knows what else..

It was a trip seeing Olive playing with something that you remember playing with.

But she was most excited about the snow, and the bouncy air mattress. Could you blame her?

Love this pic of a little girl just loving life.

She knew "No" (snow) was something special..

So we bundled her up and had Uncle John inspect.

And daddy and her set out for their first Antartic expedition to the back yard.

She was a bit thrown at first, as the snow made it hard to walk, and she found it to be 'code' (cold). But to her credit, she didnt whine or cry. She just kept on giggling and wanting more.

She reminded me of those furry penguin babies..

After a bit, it was time to get warmed up and out of those clothes.

We fed her lunch and then went for a bath in her make shift bathtub-tote, stocked with plenty of plastic vegetables.

After the bath, it was time for our first photo shoot..! She cleans up pretty good eh? (get it? cuz the room is such a mess and the whole double meaning thing..? ah, never mind).

Olive explores everything,

And soon it was time for din din with Grandma!

Before 'Night-night' we like settle down with an Elmo video or two.. I think the women were amazed watching this little girl navigate an ipod for them.

This gave Rebecca and Joan a chance to work out.

And soon, all our local friends turned up. Joe, Cheryl, Lynn, Ellen, Bob, Christine, Chris, their two boys, Tim, and on and on.

And soon Grandma's house was rocking, which must explain why all my photos were so blurry.

Somehow, I forgot to take some pics of the actual party, but thought this doormat pic captured the crowd.

It was a great first full day in Chicago!