Christmas In Missouri...

(... is better than Christmas at the Dursleys'.)

We had such a great time at Christmas, I would be remiss not to document it a little more fully.  The Wife is doing a fun series of Pretember posts too.

Just doing a little Christmas tree shopping.

So this Christmas was spent with Julie's family in Missouri.  It was splendid for Bobo to finally meet some of his cousins/aunts/uncles on his mum's side, and to get reacquainted with his grandparents after meeting them when he was much tinier.  We had also realized that we hadn't been to visit for FAR too long, so it was high time we had a good long visit (and quite long too!  Over two weeks, though apparently also not long enough, since I realized too late that I missed out on a couple weeks of vacation time this year...  I don't even).  Here are some the fun times we had:

• The Boy's first flight!  I will readily admit that I have been inwardly anguishing at the thought of this for some time now...  I didn't want to be That Guy with That Baby who won't stop crying, but it turns out all my fears were totally unfounded.  This boy was a perfect traveler, he slept some of the time, and when he didn't sleep he didn't make a peep the entire time, except for the cute kind that causes everyone around him to smile and laugh and admire.  Let's hope this continues all throughout his babyhood (should we happen to travel again anytime soon...).

• We had a fun trip to St. Louis, which included The Boy's first visit to an art museum, the zoo and the science center.  It was pretty nice weather to be out and about, and I even had a chance to meet up with one of my Survivor podcast friends.

The new sea lion/seal tank was a big hit, and the kids were gladly filling in strangers on the difference between the two creatures.

Tiger with tiger.

Aslan, O Aslan!

Photo shoot!

WHAT.

Then this invariably happens.  Ow.

But I usually get him back by gnawing on his lower extremities, which he evidently finds hilarious.

Just taking a little stroll with my new friend Ivy.

Those eyebrows.  Sleepy Bobo.

This is unfortunately as close as we came to seeing the elephants... But it was still the perfect opportunity for a Senior Picture photo.

He will love the dinosaurs one day, just like his mum.

What up, Jeremiah?!?

•  We had so many funtivities.  We went roller skating and played TWO epic games of laser tag at the local funplace, we listened to a lot of festive music, we visited the library, we watched some fun movies (including introducing the kids to two classic versions of A Christmas Carol [Mickey's and The Muppet] and introducing almost everyone to Newsies... that movie is so engrained on my brain, and now I finally have it in my collection [besides the old VHS at home, ha.  Oh, obsolete media.]), and The Wife languished through The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug again, as promised, to go along with those who hadn't seen it yet (I didn't mind staying home with the kids).  We played lots of Wii too, most notably various versions of Just Dance, which we definitely couldn't seem to get enough of, especially this one.  You're definitely gonna hear me roar.  You should have seen us when that song came on the overhead speakers at Kohl's and we all three stopped wherever we were in the aisles and immediately started dancing.  It was like something out of a musical.

No school like the old school.

I opted for classic skates this time, for reasons I know not.

Such a big fun tiger at the renovated library.  Even the sniffles couldn't keep him from showing some excitement.

The most appropriate of lounge wear!  He only lasted about five minutes into his first MCC viewing, but there will be plenty more opportunities to watch it together.

Thanks for the fun jammie pants, Wife and Mama!

• We ate so much great food!  Imo's, A Slice of Pie, TWO of Julie's gorgeous and delicious cakes, plenty of cheeses and dips and soups and other such nice things.

Chocolate strawberry for Marissa's baptism!

Chocolate orange for post-Christmas eatings!  Neither cake lasted very long...

• We were glad to be there for the end of advent and also to see Marissa's baptism.  It blows me away how grown up those kids are, when I first met them when they were barely even four.  I sang a duet with William, which was really fun and turned out lovely (as did the trio I did with Sarah and Marci for the sacrament meeting Christmas program), even if I was dealing with a rare and even more rarely long-lasting cold.  I don't usually get sick, and even when I do it doesn't last very long.  Unfortunately, spending so much time with a little one led to...

He's learning to read already (jay kay).

He at least knows to look at books.

• ... Bobo's first cold!  It was quite unpleasant, and took its sweet time working through his system as well.  He's such a happy and sweet and nicely-sleeping baby usually that it was especially rough for him not to be able to breathe and sleep well with his congestion and coughing.  It was so sad that he was so sleepy and unwell and couldn't be himself.  Luckily we had several days on either end of his sniffles for everyone to know what a happy and delightful boy he usually is.

• Of course we had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  They were magical and fun and Bobo's first was brilliant.  I'm sure he'll remember every moment of it.

Thanks for the Christmas PJs, my parents!

Bobo examines the contents of his first stocking.

He loves his blanket from Mum!

As you can see.

He spent some quality time getting to know Puppy (and a puppy in general).

And I spent some quality time with these girls.  We were so sad when they had to head home a couple days after Christmas.

• Also of course we had New Year's Eve and Day, which were fairly uneventful and spent mostly trying to keep The Boy sleeping soundly and happily.  We missed the ball dropping (as if it really matters, I know), and I didn't get my lifelong-dream-that-can-now-happily-come-true-every-year midnight kiss, but luckily there will be plenty more New Year's Eves, and hopefully not ones with a sick infant.  We even had a little snow, and he was feeling well enough to go out in it for a few minutes (which is a good thing, since we packed that adorable but quite fluffy snowsuit all the way across the country).

Do you want to build a snowman?

I do!  Also, my head was cold.

Om nom nom.  He has no idea.

Classic toys are the best toys!

This is basically the cutest set of church clothes ever.

• I read the Chronicles of Narnia throughout the month, finishing just after we came home.  Those books are just brilliant, and perfect Christmastime reading.

• Don't let's forget about the Great Annual Shave-and-a-Haircut!  It was high time, and we made sure that Bobo could be present for the whole thing so the transformation of Daddy's entire appearance wouldn't be such a jarring transition for him.  The Wife is getting better and more confident at cutting hair every time.

It's always a little difficult at the start.

But he thought it was pretty funny right away.

That's one mighty hairball, Owen.

Presented here in four phases: 1) Still always a little nervous, 2) The Jean Valjean, 3) Pretty much done, 4) Public reaction

• And the flight back was equally as  delightful and stress-free as the way there, even though there was a delay to boarding, which they didn't make mention of in the slightest and instead stood around acting like nothing was wrong or delayed or anything other than On Time, even though we finally started boarding AFTER we were supposed to be in the air.

Both (sort of) sleeping.

Both (definitely) awake!

• And in general we had a good time just sitting around and spending many hours chatting and talking and catching up with the fam.  It's always good to call or webcam, but it's always better to have some face time (literal face time, not Face Time), and we had a lot of opportunities to have fun, meaningful, interesting, deep, funny conversations, sometimes long into the night.

And there you have it!  And although we were glad to be home after living out of suitcases for a few weeks (and packing/traveling with three is definitely different from packing/traveling with two), we were sorry to say goodbye to Julie's kin for now.  Hopefully we'll be able to see them all before another shameful couple of years roll by.  We're already thinking ahead and have some tentative plans in the works, so hopefully that will work out.

Tee hee, his little grin.

A little present when we came home.

It was a most wonderful Christmastime, and The Boy's first was great fun.  He's more mobile and active and responsive than ever, and it was fun to see him react to all the glorious wonders of Christmas.