and now.... Christmas 2008!

So last night on Christmas Eve. My mom, Brittany, Evan, Aunt Donna & Olivia went to the childrens' mass at St. Casimir's. Evan had a great time talking to the little boy in front of us. After that, Brit, Evan and I walked over to Aunt Wanda & Uncle Larry's to go "caroling". I then drove to Atlantic City to pick up Mike from the train station. We got back to my parents and walked over to Aunt Ella's for dinner. There were like 20 people crammed in her house and Evan stole the crystal baby Jesus from one of the nativities. We all walked home 5 lbs heavier. When we got back to my parents' house, Evan put out milk & cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. We read some Christmas stories, said our prayers and woke up to presents on Christmas morning! Aunt Ella walked over for breakfast and Josh came up later in the day... My mom made dinner for the entire family. We all played Apples to Apples (Aunt Donna and my mom's team cheated and still didn't win). Right now it's the day after Christmas and we're all in a sugar coma in our pjs, still shoving down cookies and chocolate covered pretzels. Everyone but Mike that is. He went running on the boardwalk. It's been a whirlwind so far, but that's how our holidays usually are and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Christmas Eve:



Evan is so tired here. Too much Christmas Cheer.


Cookies and milk for Santa, carrot for Rudolph


Christmas morning!



Time for nap!


Okay... Now it's 2 days after Christmas. My parents left for vacation at Charleston, SC and Evan, Brit, Mike and I were supposed to have left, but we all decided to stay to take advantage of the warm weather. Today we went to the boardwalk (Evan and Josh too). Josh left for NY this afternoon. Tonight Mike and I went on a date at the Lobster House because we had gift certificates from Aunt Ella and because it's one of my favorite places on earth. We then walked around Washington Mall, went through Congress Hall and had a drink at the Ugly Mug. Brittany watched Evan and the two of them had a few visitors... Aunt Wanda, Sarah and Becky all came over to play. This is what we found when we came home, courtesy of Becky...

Very cute!
Here's another pic that has nothing to do with tonight, but it's so cute that I had to post it...


And this is another random one. This is what Evan does when you ask him to show his muscles. He actually starts shaking! We often wonder if he's having a seizure or not.

Storybook Land

Brittany, Jessica, Olivia, my mom, Evan and I went to Storybook Land one night. Evan puked in the car on the way so we all smelled the whole time, but it was like a blast from the past going through it. We went on the choochoo and saw most of the fairy tale things. They were just as creepy as I remembered, but Evan loved it all. Plus the Christmas lights were so neat.

Jessica looks like a midget here. She's just sitting funny.





Monday, Evan and I visited Santa. It was awesome. There was no line so Santa was able to focus solely on Evan. He even complimented Evan's momma. "I was thinking what a gorgeous kid this is and now I see it's from his mom". Awww, Santa - thank you!

Then last weekend we took the train to NYC and stayed this awesome hotel called The Empire right in the middle of midtown Manhattan. It was very swanky and I wish we had some pictures, but we forgot the camera. Maybe it was for the best. The bathroom was the coolest part and I think Evan spent most of the time in the shower. The only trouble we had was Saturday night when Mike, Brittany, Ev and I went to Rockefeller Plaza and FAO Schwartz. It was a total mob scene and absolutely freezing. Evan just sat in his stroller wrapped up in 6 layers of clothes with two huge, bewildered eyes peeking out. A few hours later when we stopped to get him some dinner he had had enough. He only ate half of his pea soup and only wanted his Aunt Brittany's chocolate cake. Also, when we got there he was crying because his hands were so cold that they hurt when we touched them. They were bright red and felt like little icicles and he kept saying "ouch. hurts". The only redeeming thing for him that night was when we saw Cookie Monster and Elmo on a corner. That's the first time he broke into a huge grin "Hi, Melmo!"

Our hotel had a swanky rooftop bar. From the rooftop bar (which was indoors), you could step out on the roof, which we did. There was this beautiful view of the city while we stood under the huge, glowing, red "The Empire" sign. We only stayed out there for a about 5 minutes because it was so cold and icy. There was also a very crowded restaurant next door where Evan hi-fived everyone at the bar when we had dinner there one night. In the morning we would get Starbucks where Evan always ordered a "coffee" which is actually a short cup of steamed soy milk. Mike and Evan had walked to a diner one morning while I slept in. Evan was all excited to get a waffle, but it took them a long time to get there because he had to stop and play with the snow, fire hydrants, etc.. When they finally got there, it was a Belgium waffle, not the little Eggos I serve. Evan freaked out and said "Whoooooooa!". It was his most favorite waffle ever and he had such a great time spending some mantime with his dad.

We had so much fun and I felt of twinge of sadness when our train pulled up to 30th Station in Philadelphia. Our little city seemed so... little. I think Evan would have such a great time living in New York, so I'm trying to convince Mike we should move.

Some Christmas miscellaneous stuff...

Rocking the leg warmers.




So sleepy

Decorating Grandmom & Pop's tree



Washing dishes

Hanging with Aunt Doris

More Christmas Highlights

A new blog post - what?! Well, Mike just got me a new computer for Christmas... It is so Beautiful!!! So now I'm able to update the blog again - yay! Mike and I have gotten tons of complaints because we haven't done anything, but it's not our fault. My old computer was on it's last leg. And everyone gets mad when I type too much of a story and don't put enough photos up.





So our little family sort of goes nuts on Holidays like this. Evan's Christmas pretty much started at Thanksgiving visiting the Giffords, Dudas and Mima & PoPo. Here's PoPo, Jack and Grandpa Gifford.
And Paul, Sue, Granny, Gramps Gifford, Evan and Mike...


The cousins drink in front of the tv. Such men.

We also visited the Air and Space Museum.

Mike, Evan, Jack & Mike Gifford.

Christmas Highlights

Mike and Evan's Godfather Dan took Evan and Elizabeth to the stadiums to see the "Phanticlaus". Unfortunately, the line to see him was super long and it was super cold outside, so they bagged it and instead visited Swoop the Eagles mascot that had no line at all. Mel and I met up with everyone at Chickie and Petes and from there we went to Macy's light show, a Christmas village at city hall and the cool stuff at the Comcast Center. We ended the day with dinner on Walnut Street in Mike's old neighborhood. It was so nice to see his old building where we used to spend weekends. Awww!

Now we spend our Fridays on Main Street at a Mexican restaurant because the guacamole is so yummy and because Evan loves the waitresses.




Here's Evan and Elizabeth playing at a little kiddie field.

Spending time with his Godfather.

Swoop.

Spending time with Aunt Mel.

All bundled up after visiting Comcast.

Dinner! Evan ate nothing. Maybe 4 bites of tuna fish and a tiny bit of tomato bisque.


THE END