Christmas Photo's

We enjoyed a busy, but fun Christmas! Jim, Kyle and I hosted Christmas Eve here at our house. Jim did a great job in helping me get the house ready for our company! My Mom, My Aunt Nancy, My sister Carole, our good friend Helen, my sister Leslee and her family, Jim's brother Frank and Jim's parents all joined us for an enjoyable get-together!
I cooked a huge feast - way too much food for the amount of people we had - but as I always say "better to have too much food than too little!!". In addition to tons of H'Orderves we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, rolls, cherry cheesecake, custard pie and apple pie!
We watched "A Christmas Story" on the big screen t/v and spent the majority of the evening eating! Kyle entertained the family by showing off his skills...playing one of Jim's race car games on the Xbox.
Jim and I finally crawled into bed at 1:00am, only to hear "Mama, I'm awake!!" just 5 hrs later.
Mom, Auntie Nancy and Carole were all here to watch Kyle open his gifts...at 6:30am. Needless to say, I think I made 4 pots of coffee within a 2 hr time span! After Kyle was done opening his presents I made us a big breakfast of pancakes, sausages, bagels and warm apple bread. Our good friend Danny came over for breakfast, and we all just relaxed together while Kyle ran around the house playing with the various toys Santa left for him.
At 1:00p we went nextdoor, where our lovely neighbors Joan, Mike and Jennie overwhelmed us with some great gifts! (My favorite is the "Mom's Calander" - that will surely come in handy since we're always so darn busy these days!!) In turn, Kyle presented everyone with his "home-made" gifts - some arts and crafts projects that he did 99% by himself.
At 2:00p we headed to Jim's parents. The house was full of happy chaos! Jim's mom cooked an amazing meal of lasagna, ham, potatoes, a huge salad full of delicious meats and of course, tons of desserts and misc fattening food items! We left there around 6:00p, completely bloated and exhausted, but blessed to have had such a wonderful, memorable Christmas that was spent with lots of friends and family!!
I am now 2 months into my pregnancy and unfortunately I've been nauseous pretty much 24/7! It's been difficult, but luckily Jim has been helping me out A LOT which is great. He keeps Kyle busy and lets me rest whenever possible..because of course, in addition to feeling sick all the time I also feel incredibly tired! But, it's a small price to pay for the end result!! I go to the dr's on January 7th, in hopes to get a thumbs up that everything is progressing normally, with no complications! We will keep everyone posted!

Enjoy the random pics below!


Kyle did an awesome job decorating our tree!


He had tons of fun hanging ornaments, lights and tinsel!


Here is Dad enjoying the delicious meal Lynn prepared for our "before christmas" christmas party! Dad is now 2 weeks into his chemo and radiation treatments. He goes for radiation every morning at 6:30a and wears a chemo pump 24/7. While he often feels tired and weak he is doing incredibly well. His doctor recently gave him some pills to help settle his stomach, so he's not quite as nauseous anymore. He's still doing way too much physical activity but he's learning his limitations. He continues to see his doctors on a weekly basis and is looking forward to the end of the treatment period!!


Santa left this cool "car launcher" at Grampy's house for Kyle..it has since provided unlimited hours of entertainment!

Kyle and Auntie Carole

Jim and Kyle

Danny and Kyle playing with the "car launcher"

Nana brought Kyle lots of gifts on Christmas Eve! He had a blast tearing through

the wrapping paper.

Brandon, Kyle and Sarah -Cousins

After Kyle was fast asleep Santa arrived to stack the presents under the tree! All

of these were for Kyle :)

This is the first photo taken of Kyle as soon as he entered the living room and saw all the presents under the tree for him. Could his smile get any bigger?? He was so excited - with

each gift he opened his excitment seemed to mount and mount!

Here he is opening his desk

He couldn't stop smiling!

Opening more gifts..

Checking out the chair that goes with his new desk!

More present opening!

He was very pleased to get a Batman Scooter!!

Still opening gifts!

Later we went to Jim's parents to visit with everyone!

Here is baby Valerie, who will turn 1 on January 1st!

Here's Kyle playing with the new train set Uncle Frank bought for him!

"Papa Joe" and Kyle

Jim's sister Gina with her daugher Valerie and husband Brad

My sister in law's Melanie and Gina watching Lawrence and Valerie open gifts!

Brad and Jim's little brother Frank

Valerie - doesn't she look adorable in her red dress?

Here's my neice Michelle

"Papa Joe" (Jim's Dad) and Michelle

Kyle and his cousin Lawrence playing pin ball!