the crossley clan: Crossley Family Christmas 2008

Christmas was a bit different this year. Our poor little Jack fell sick a few days before, so all my planning went out the window. Not to worry, it turned out to be just a bad virus that he won over like a real champ. He woke up Christmas morning feeling (and looking) much better. It turned out to be a great day... even with the setbacks we had.

Here's the picture book version:

Our tree all decked out, our stockings and all our presents! We received a lot of good loot this year: THANK YOU to Mom and Dad Crossley, Sara, The Odells, The Schencks, Mom and Dad Guinn, The Taylors, Grandmom and Pop Pop Shaak, The Crossleys in Penn., and The Crossleys in Florida!!!

This is the view from our porch. We had a White Christmas here in Seattle! Everyone was basically stuck at home for a few days cuz apparently they don't exactly believe in snow removal... but we could get around locally with 4 wheel drive. That said, we didn't venture far, which meant missing out on my brothers' celebrations on Christmas Eve. We'll have to get together some other time, bros.

Don't you just love the pink blossoms showing through the snow? Beautiful! These trees are right out in front of our house.

Jack loved his toys but wasn't too keen on the unwrapping part. He was still feeling a little under the weather and didn't want to put out too much energy yet. But look at that smile!

I love this shirt! It reads: "Kiss Me (Five dollars for the first kiss, two dollars for each additional kiss. Taxes may apply.)" Ha ha! Love it!

This is where it got sticky. This picture is of Pete examining the aftermath of our a kitchen flood. That's right: flood. Our disposal got clogged and when we turned on the dishwasher, our sink filled up with water. Pete tried to drain it into a bucket via the pipe underneath the sink, but there was too much water and it ended up all over the floor. A very Merry Christmas to us, huh?! I was also just finishing up some cooking I was doing, but I obviously had to put that on hold. From there our schedule got all out of wack and we ended up being late for everything.

We did finally get to our destination: Mom and Dad Crossley's house. Everyone else had been there for a while and had opened presents, celebrated... you know - had a normal Christmas. :) Anyway, Jack perked right up when he saw everyone.

This is the only picture that is even close to resembling a family Christmas portrait. We were just too busy having fun with all our goodies!

After dinner, it was off for dessert at the Schenck's house (this is Connie with Jack). Only one word can describe it all: YUM!! Plus we had all sorts of family and friends to mingle with. And Jack was able to meet Artie for the first time! The Schencks are close family friends whom we see all the time, but Artie lives back in Penn.

They had a blast together! Too bad you live so far away, Artie... Jack's gonna miss ya. :)

This is a rare picture of Bob - I just had to add it in!

There were more presents to be opened and everyone joined in the fun - I think the adults had more fun than the kids did!

Case in point: Pete with Jack's lawn mower. He was studying that thing for more than a few minutes...

It was pretty late when we finally left the Shencks, so we decided to celebrate Christmas with Pete's parents the next day. It was so nice and relaxing - quite different from the day before. :) Pete is reading Jack a book that had a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer puppet. It was a big hit!