Christmas Day in Salem

We took a big step this year and decided to host Christmas Dinner at our new home in Salem.  In addition to the Christmas Dinner the Baptiste family is normally accustomed, Scott brought in a bit of North Dakota by making Potato Dumplings:

Uncle Dan helped out in the kitchen as well - thanks Uncle Dan!:

It was the last Christmas without the youngest family member, Uncle Dan and Auntie Chris's new baby, who was due just over one month later.  Alice is looking forward to welcoming her newest cousin!:

Including the three of us, we had 15 family members in our home for Christmas Day.

Every couple of years, we are fortunate enough to be together and get a family picture to hold us over until we are all together again.  Here is the latest shot:

We always miss Auntie Bethany and Uncle CJ, but had a great visit with them:

Alice had an especially fun time visiting with family during the day:

Here are Auntie Bethany and Uncle Dan enjoying a piece of pizza from Alice's kitchen:

Merry Christmas, Everyone!  Here are the rest of the photos from the afternoon.

Christmas Morning in Salem

Santa apparently made a visit to Salem on Christmas Eve, and someone was on his "Nice" list!:

After making our way down to the living room, Alice discovered her new kitchen right away:

Alice discovered that Santa had taken a bite from one of the cookies we left him, and she proceeded to eat the rest of them!:

We loved having Auntie Bethany and Uncle CJ celebrating Christmas morning with us in our new home!:

Santa really made a great move when he included a flip-open compact hairbrush-and-mirror in Alice's stocking.  It was a big hit with her and was one of her favorite gifts of the day:

Alice and Daddy have a standing date to do Alice's fingernails and toenails.  Santa brought Alice more nail polish than she should ever need:

We really enjoyed our first Christmas morning in our new home with family from far and near:

Alice also opened a fun recycling truck from Santa.  Here she is showing it to Grammie and Grampie:

 The morning was tiring but so much fun!  Here are some additional photos from Christmas morning.

Christmas Videos

Here are the videos of Alice coming down the stairs to see if Santa brought her any presents. She is a bit sleepy (like everybody else!) because we were at the big Baptiste family party the night before, but Alice is a trooper and can't wait to see the presents!

Christmas Eve - Party!!

Christmas Eve finally arrived, and along with it came Auntie Bethany and Uncle CJ - all the way from California!  On Christmas Eve we got all dressed up for the traditional family party with all of our relatives on Mommy's side of the family.

Here is Alice getting ready, and Auntie Bethany fixing Alice's hair:

Here is Alice, admiring herself in the mirror:

Once we arrived at the party, there was so much to do, so much yummy food and so many fun people to see.  One person Alice was not so excited to see was Santa, even though he brought her a nice present!:

What is the present from Santa?:

Snowman PJs and a Dora guitar!!!:

Alice wasted no time before jamming out with Grampie:

Here she is, practicing in her own corner of the party:

After the party was over, we made the long drive home from Taunton to Salem.  Alice went right to bed and Mommy, Daddy, Auntie Bethany and Uncle CJ set up their presents for Christmas morning - only a few hours away!  Here is Uncle CJ checking out Daddy's sword and making sure everyone stays on task!:

With sugarplums dancing in our heads, we got to bed.  Will Santa arrive tonight?  We will have to wait and see.  In the meantime, here are some photos from our Christmas Eve adventures.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Christmas is coming and preparations are in order here at the Peterson house!

Here is Alice, addressing the package of presents we recently sent to Grandma and Papa's house in North Dakota:

Alice got all dressed up for the holiday party at Mommy's office.  Mommy and Alice took the train down to Boston for the afternoon:

Daddy experienced a right of passage this year as he put together a toddler kitchen which was made up of more than 100 parts and took more than 3 hours to assemble!:

Alice and all of her friends can't wait for Santa's arrival!:

Here are some more photos as we prepare for Christmas.

Baby Bap Baby Shower!

Alice is excited - she is going to be a Big Cousin again really soon!  This time, it will be Uncle Dan and Auntie Chris's new baby.  The baby should make an appearance in early February.  We recently held a shower at Grammie and Grampie's house for Auntie Chris to celebrate Baby Bap!  Alice helped as much as she could with the shower.

Aunt Ricky even made a surprise visit all the way from Florida! (and here makes her guess as to whether Baby Bap will be a boy or a girl):

Here is a diaper cake made by Grammie:

Many party guests brought cupcakes and in addition to yummy snacks, they made cute decorations:

Grammie made chocolate lollipops for party favors:

Auntie Chris was truly showered with love (and two car-loads of presents!).  Baby Bap will be all set up once this baby makes its arrival!

Alice loved the shower and enjoyed watching Auntie Chris open her presents, but she especially loved the chocolate lollipops!

Alice can't wait to meet her new little cousin and neither can Mommy and Daddy!  Here are some more photos from the celebrations!