Entries from December 23rd, 2005

Christmas Morning

December 27th, 2005 · 1 Comment

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Jess Peeling the Label Off, Oak Creek, WI

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Jess Dressing Up, Oak Creek, WI

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Dallas + Friends, Oak Creek, WI

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Jessica, Rachelle, Stephanie :: Oak Creek, WI

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Dallas and Steph Coloring, Oak Creek, WI

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What Artists! :: Oak Creek, WI

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Jess + Dora, Oak Creek, WI

Christmas morning at my brother’s house is always fun because the kids are so psyched to see what Santa brought them. It’s kind of strange because it seems like Steph (who will be 10 in April) is teetering on believing and Jess (who will be 3 in May) is still trying to grasp the concept. Jess had this weird thing this year where she tried to peel all the To/From labels off the gifts before she opened them. Almost every time you had to urge her to just rip the paper and not try to peel the stickers off. We’d have been there all day!

Jess is really into playing dress up* and got lots of clothes and sheos, but I think her favorite toy from Santa was a Dora the Explorer dancing and singing doll. Steph got a nice pair of rollerblades that I think she’ll enjoy when the weather gets warmer.

* Everytime Jess opened shoes or a dress up costume she’d yell out “I’m Pretty!” I think that’s what she says when she wants to dress up too. That and “Pants OFF!”

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Christmas Eve

December 26th, 2005 · 4 Comments

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Christmas Tree, Oak Creek, WI

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Stephanie & Jessica, Oak Creek, WI

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Jessica, Oak Creek, WI

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Dallas & Mom Show Off Gifts, Oak Creek, WI

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Jessica Sleeping, Oak Creek, WI

We spent Christmas Eve with my family at my brother’s house in Oak Creek, WI. Although my niece, Jessica, had spent time with Dallas a few times, she was super shy. She wouldn’t talk to anyone when he came over and just kept looking out of the corner of her eye to see if he was still there in the room. Amanda said she was the same way with her uncle who was visiting the day before. And I can remember when Jess was little she wouldn’t let any man hold her except my brother. Even if my dad or her other grandpa looked at her she’d start crying sometimes. She warmed up by the time we left, but still didn’t really willingly go by Dallas. Who would? ha

Jess was so tired on Christmas Eve night. I went in her room about an hour after she went to bed and she was laying there sleeping with her new Peanuts character stuffed animals and her Peanuts book still in her hands. Steph kept checking to see where Santa was on NoradSanta.org. When he got close she went to bed too.

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Doug & Naoko’s Holiday Party

December 26th, 2005 · 1 Comment

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Matt, Vincent & Naoko :: Elgin, IL

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Joey, Kim, Dallas, Sal :: Heather

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Kim & Sal’s Daughter, Claire

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Rachelle, Cory, Heather, Kim, Claire, Naoko, Miko, Lori

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Back: Cory, Naoko, Doug, Joey, Kim, Jeff, Sal, Claire, Vincent, Matt
Middle: Miko, Dallas, Lori, Danny, Darren, Jennifer
Front: Rachelle, Heather

This holiday weekend we went from party to party around the Chicago and Milwaukee suburbs to visit with family and friends, exchange gifts, and eat a ton of food. (Thanks to Dallas’ Auntie Laura for letting us borrow her car for the weekend so we didn’t have to rent a car or figure out how to get everywhere via public transportation!)

Friday night we were at Doug & Naoko’s holiday party in Elgin. Noako cooked a lot of really good food, including some wonton soup, sushi, and some kind of crab puffs. I don’t know what was in the crab puffs but they were so good. We had a gift exchange and got to spend a time with friends & family. Those were the high points. The low point: The boys were in the garage playing some made up football game (Danny got a football in the gift exchange). Basically in the game you had to catch the ball and if you didn’t catch it you had to drink a whole beer. Well, something happened out there and Sal rammed into Doug’s car and now there’s 2 dents in it. Sal’s a good-sized guy, but I was wondering – if Doug’s car can be dented by a person, how do you think it’d do in an actuall car accident?

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Santa’s Little Helper

December 23rd, 2005 · 5 Comments

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» Santa Hat 2004
» Santa Hat 2003
» Santa Hat 2002
» Santa Hat 2000

Other years are not online.

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Happy Holidays!

December 23rd, 2005 · No Comments

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Christmas Gifts, East Ukrainian Village, Chicago

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah, everyone. And don’t forget, it’s Festivus today. I’ll have lots of photos after the weekend.

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