a boston christmas.

happy new year! 2009 has been that year that we've been looking forward to for a long time (about 4 years now). even though we had a very low-key new years celebration last night, i.e. appetizers for dinner, calvin to bed, a scrabble win by me, travis in bed at 11 and me bringing in the new year along with ryan seacrest and kellie pickler, we are very excited about what 2009 is going to bring! (you know, new baby, graduation, move across the country)

but, before we look ahead to all that great stuff, i realize that a little christmas post is still in order. we had ourvery first christmas by ourselves without any family. i had mixed feelings but also really had no other choice, doctors orders. luckily, some of our great dental school friends were also sticking around so we were able to celebrate with friends who have become our family away from family. we spent christmas eve at kristen and landen's for some pizza and appetizers, "acting" out the nativity with 8 kiddos under the age of 4, pj's, and some christmas chimes. on christmas day we had everyone back over here for a nice christmas dinner, chatting and, yes, more christmas chimes. we are so grateful to have good friends here to celebrate with when we're so far from home.

we were especially looking forward to doing our own little christmas at home with just the three of us. even though calvin still doesn't quite get the whole "santa coming down the chimney to bring me presents" thing we knew that he would definitely like the un-wrapping toys and books thing. we had a slight twist to our christmas morning when calvin woke up screaming at 5 am saying that his neck hurt. it seemed like he had a bad stiff neck and we couldn't get him comfortable for a while. after a dose of motrin and lots of pillows, he fell asleep for a few more hours. unfortunately, when he woke back up his neck was still really sore and he insisted on having travis carry him out of his room with a pillow under his head to see what santa brought him. it was so sad because he could hardly turn his head to see his toys, presents and stocking. after opening a few presents, a hot shower and more medicine, travis made him a make-shift neck brace out of a blanket and calvin wore that the rest of the morning! it seemed to help and he loved opening all of his presents. we're still not sure how he got it but by the next day he was feeling much better and enjoyed playing with his new things much more than the day before! we really did have a fun christmas and are enjoying some good, quality time together as our little family. and, i'm especially loving the extra help around here when all i really want to do is sit on the couch and wait for this baby to get here! more on that later...and now, just a few pictures:

all the kiddos in their pj's after acting out the nativity. you can only imagine what our nativity was like with kids this age! haha...pretty entertaining for all the parents. aiden and calvin were the only ones who liked wearing the costumes (even though calvin insisted on wearing the antlers with his shepherd costume)calvin and dad on christmas morning. calvin didn't move his head much more than this.here's his cool neck brace he wore most of the morning. it did actually help!and the only one from our christmas dinner.