Merry (Belated) Christmas to All!

A quick Christmas greeting to everyone from Sean's first... spent up in Westford at his maternal grandmother's house. We have enjoyed our time with my (Merrie's) family, spending a low key week with Sean's Gramma, great grandmother, Aunts Kate and Bub, Uncle Joe, Brian, and the dogs (Piper, the golden retriever, and Allie, the black lab). We got a chance to visit Sean's great great aunt Dottie (my Gramma's sister), who is in a rehabiliation center south of Boston, on Tuesday. Through the wonders of the internet we also got to videoconference with Sean's paternal grandparents and Aunt Meghan, who are in Santa Fe now.

They had well over 2 feet of snow on the ground when we arrived (and we actually bumped our flight because of the second snowstorm last weekend), but much of it has melted with warm weather (and some rain) Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Still, the ground is covered and helped us see two deer in the backyard while opening presents yesterday.

Yesterday was a long day for all of us-- stockings, breakfast (goldenrod toast... a family tradition on my side but originally just at Easter), opening presents one-at-a-time (Sean got a great collection of books, Robin-approved sippy cups, fun clothing, music, etc.), and a big evening dinner including roasted winter vegetables and homemade macaroni and cheese (and roast beef for the meat eaters... since Sean's diet is also my own, that didn't include him), plus Chris' lemon meringue pie plus plenty of cookies for dessert. There are 8 of us here and it was a great time. As is usual, you can see pictures on our Picasa page.

We hope you all had a great celebration as well, surrounded by family and friends!!!