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Christmas: The Recap

Since having Little Paul, Big Paul and I have decided that when possible we'd like to be home for Christmas.  After all, most kids want to be home when Santa comes down the chimney!  This has meant in the past couple of years that my parents and brothers would celebrate Christmas in Pennsylvania and then come to our house a day or two later.  This year, however, with both brothers engaged and headed for the holidays at their respective future-in-laws' houses, my parents arrived in Massachusetts the day before Christmas Eve, excited to share Christmas with all of us....

During the day on Christmas Eve my parents and I decided to take LP on a train ride into Boston to see the miniature train display set up at South Station. 

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He really loved sitting on the train seat like a "big boy" and didn't want anyone to hold him.

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And everyone loved looking at the huge train display.

Christmas Eve we went over to my in-law's house for appetizers.... 

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Santa had already started delivering presents at their house!

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LP was adorable in his sweater vest and button down (thanks to Aunt Cindi who sent it for him!) and was fascinated by Papa showing him how to use the nutcracker....

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LP fell asleep in the car on the way home so we put him right to bed...  And then the rest of us jumped onto Skype for a high-tech version of our Christmas Eve reading of the "Night Before Christmas."  My dad has been reading this to us every year, and while this year was a slightly different way of doing things, we were glad to have been able to at least see each other online!  My brother Nelson and his fiance San were in Florida, and my brother Spencer and his fiance Frances were in Michigan...



LP ended up having a pretty bad nightmare later that night and wound up sleeping in our bed.  He was still asleep at 8 the next morning when Papa and Grammy came over for Christmas Day.  When he finally came downstairs all four of his grandparents were in the living room and I think he was more excited about that than he was about the fact that Santa had been here!

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Even the dogs get in on opening presents- they're both quite good at it!

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LP napped through Christmas dinner and the rest of us had butternut squash soup, goat cheese and spiced walnut salads, beef wellington, and a delicious gingerbread cake for dessert....

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After dinner Nana and Pappy decided to leave early as a big snow storm was heading our way.... LP was NOT happy about them leaving, as evidenced by the photos below...

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Nana and Pappy left and then Papa and Grammy went home a little while later, leaving us to have a quiet Christmas night enjoying all of our new toys!  It was a great Christmas all around!


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