Christmas and New Year's Eve -- 2011

Ela's first Christmas was full of wonderful family time and special events. We had Grandmommy Adrienne, Aunt Jennifer, and cousin Matteo stay with us over the holiday. We also got to spend a lot of time with the Williams-Carraway crew, the Maestas family, the Hynes, the Bucks (Joel and Diane), and great-Grumpy, too!

Most of our holiday photos are on 3 links that Brian put together. Here is the link to the first series of photos: http://www.briankraft.com/Blog/personal/fuji-x100-christmas-2011-part-i/

And some thoughts on that first series of photos:

• This was our first Christmas tree, and we didn't have anything to use as a tree-topper. So, I took a picture of Ela and taped it to an upside-down plastic cup. Ta-da! Our angel on top of the tree!
• We enjoyed a wonderful fancy dinner at Vesta Dipping Grill with Adrienne, Jennifer, Matteo, Anne, John, and Laurel. The food was fantastic, and John ordered a special cocktail that inspired Laurel to recreate it at our Christmas Eve dinner. Ela spent the whole dinner quietly sleeping in the Moby wrap.
• I received the Cook's Illustrated cookbook from Valerie as an early Christmas present. Adrienne pored over the cookbook, and found some terrific recipes to use when she cooked dinner for all of us.
• We had a BIG snowstorm the day after Adrienne arrived. Good thing her trip wasn't planned for a day later!
• Adrienne brought some of Brian's old trucks to give to Matteo. He had a wonderful time playing with them on the couch.
• Matteo helped me make a bunch of different jams to give as gifts. His favorite was the pear & vanilla bean jam!
• Jennifer, Matteo, and Brian went on an adventure walk to our neighborhood coffee place. The weather was beautiful (but cold).
• We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house. John grilled a turkey and brought it over as the main course, and Laurel made cocktails for everyone.
• Grandma Anne gave Ela a special Christmas book, and she and I read it together in bed on Christmas Eve.
• On Christmas Day we all got ready to head over to Aunt Maggie's house. Adrienne looked wonderful in purple, and she wore the necklace and earrings that I gave to her on our first Christmas together. We had lots of fun at Aunt Maggie's house, and the food was AWESOME!
• On the day after Christmas, we went on an expedition in the Confluence Park neighborhood. We visited the spice shop and had brunch at a local diner.

Next we have a short slideshow of a few photos of Katie, Denae, Ela, and me. We had a special "girls' lunch" at a nice restaurant, followed by a photo shoot. We wanted to get some nice portraits, especially of Katie and Denae.

http://www.briankraft.com/Xmas2011/K-D-E-E.html 


And now the second set of Christmas/New Year's photos... Here is the link: http://www.briankraft.com/Blog/personal/fuji-x100-christmas-2011-part-ii/  And some thoughts:

• We met up with Derek, Sarah, and Owen (in town from Chicago) for lunch.
• We went to Grandma Anne's house for a lovely post-Christmas celebration. The Maestas family was there, plus the Hynes crew, Aunt Diane & Uncle Joel, Grumpy, and Patrick. Ela got all kinds of sweet presents (probably more presents than anyone else in the room), including special gifts picked out for her by each of her cousins. Ela also got her first real toys, and a book called "Wherever You Go, My Love Will Find You."
• The next night we participated in the traditional dinner at Bull & Bush in Cherry Creek, where Ela (almost) tasted her first beer. That Hynes family -- they're pretty silly!
• We bundled Ela up in her bear suit and took her first ride as a big girl in her stroller (first stroller ride without the car seat). Ela made it all the way to the library and a couple blocks more, but then she decided that she didn't like the stroller anymore and needed to be carried the rest of the way home.
• Ela recently graduated to face-out in the Moby -- there are so many interesting things to see! (like Momma's computer screen...)
• On New Year's Eve day we went to a "Babies of 2011" party that was hosted by one of my old friends from high school. We counted down to noon instead of midnight. Ela was the youngest one there, but she still wore her party hat like a pro.
• We spent New Year's Eve evening at Brahmani & Dave's house for the second year. We enjoyed king crab legs, potluck sides, and games. We were joined by Jyoti & Tim (on Bodhi's due date) and Mokshana &  Aaron.
• Jyoti held Ela, who liked to sit on top of the baby bump. We're sure that Bodhi didn't mind -- he'll probably sit on Ela sometime in the future!
• On New Year's Day we went over to have brunch at our neighbors' house. Justin and Erin cooked up some great New Orleans food. After that we walked over to an open house hosted by one of the moms from my moms' group, and then enjoyed the walk home through our neighborhood.