Christmas Lookback 2011

Well, it's January.  Which means, in our house at least, that the Christmas tree has been taken down- it's ornaments and accompanying household decorations packed away carefully into boxes until next year.  The last of the somewhat stale Christmas cookies got tossed the other day, and finally the local radio station that had been playing Christmas songs since November is back to it's typical top 40 lineup.  

Indeed perhaps the final remnant of the Christmas season before we solidly turn our attention to the coming year is for us to share all the pictures and videos that we've been too busy to post during the rush of holiday activities these last few weeks.  We've got a lot, that's for sure.  I'll be somewhat discriminate about how mnay pictures I simply dump into this post, but the truth is we probably didn't take enough- as some events were well documented and others recieved hardly a shutter click.

The very first Christmas event for us this year was the tradition (4 years can be called a tradition, right?) of our yearly holiday trip into Philadelphia.  There were some familiar things this year, and some fun new stuff as well.  We went to the Macy's light show at the old Wannamaker buiding (of course), and also visited the Charles Dickens village which included a visit to Santa.  Aiden was particularly excited this year about the hotel where we were staying, and mostly seemed to want to hang out in our room and look out the window (also there was an indoor pool, which was a huge hit).

                                    

We also for the first time this year included a trip to nearby Camden to check out the Adventure Aquarium.  It was great fun for Aiden, and pretty cool for us too.  Highly recommended!

     

Christmas morning at the Jones Abode was pretty short, but definitely very sweet.  This is the first year that Aiden has been old enough to really display lots of enthusiasm and interest in opening gifts, and boy was he enthusiastic.  In fact, once he got rolling he was hard to stop- which may have been why the whole morning seemed to pass in a blur of flying wrapping paper.  I did manage to snap a few pictures of gifts being opened and played with, and even included a couple of fun videos of all the Christmas morning action.

The days following Christmas were somewhat of a whirlwind as we spent significant time with the Jones family, then the Weidner family, and then the Jones extended family.  It probably goes without saying but lots of gifts were opened, lots of tasty food was eaten, and lots of parents (us) collapsed on the couch after it was all done, desperate for a nap.  It was a busy, but great couple of days.  Most of the pictures that I have here are of the Jones house, with a couple at the end of cousins visiting (and even a baby v. baby action video!)  Lots of great pictures, and a great way to wrap up Christmas 2011!