Christmas part I

I have so many pictures from Christmas this year. You'd think it was a milestone year or something. Oh wait, it was - baby's first Christmas! It figures that I'd have way too many pictures. I'm just thankful that thanks to digital cameras I can see the pictures instantly and delete those that I don't want. Imagine how much I'd spend on rolls of film and getting it developed! yikes.

Anyway, I thought that I'd just post the pictures and possibly give a little narrative for some of them. If I wrote about all the little details it would take forever and probably bore most of you so I'm calling that good. :)

This first post is the batch of California Christmas pictures - events leading up to Christmas and our little family celebration. The batch of Christmas photos from our trip to my parent's house in Chicago is going to need to be a separate post!

It is a tradition in my family to make Swedish Coffee Cake at Christmas time. It used to be a major deal to bake this special bread but now with the gift of bread makers it takes very little effort in comparison. Luke helped me this year. Ah, Grandma Phillips (my mom's mom- 100% Swedish) would have been proud!

"Helping" by unloading all the bowls and tupperware out of the cabinet

Watching as the bread maker worked its magic mixing all the ingredients to create dough

Just before putting the coffee cake into the oven.

Luke was a little impatient, clearly wanting to get a bite!

"Is it done yet?"

The finished product

Luke's first taste of Swedish Coffee Cake.

I know, I know. He's not supposed to have sugar before his first birthday.

But it's Christmas and it's a tradition. Get over it.

I called my parents on Skype so they could share in the moment of Luke's first coffee cake

(I'm telling you, this bread is a big deal in my family).

I went back and forth about decorating our house for Christmas this year. Since we were going to be spending the holidays in Chicago Matt and I both had our 'Bah Humbug' moments, thinking that decorating for Christmas would be more hassle than it was worth, especially since we'd only be 'enjoying' the decorations for a week or so. Well, I figured that since it is Luke's first Christmas and Charles' first Christmas in the States we HAD to have decorations up... and they just might stay up until Valentines Day, we'll see.

Luke was more interested in the tree's box than in the tree itself. Surprise surprise.

Playing with the tree skirt.

Surprisingly he was not all that interested in the ornaments on the tree, or pulling them off the tree for that matter.

Luke quickly lost interest in the tree box when he found out how much fun it is to crawl underneath the end tables.

and coffee table.

(no, that is not Luke's tooth you see in this picture. He does have those two upper teeth now but what you see in this pic is a piece of styrofoam he put in his mouth. Don't worry, I got it out before he ingested it.)

Since Charles was heading back to Taiwan for Christmas vacation we wanted to celebrate the holiday together as a family before he left. So the first DeBoer family Christmas occurred on December 16th rather than the 25th. We had a nice meal and opened presents together. It was a little rushed since Matt needed to get back to Redlands for the school's Christmas concert but it was still nice.

Matt helping Luke open a present

Our little tree -nothing special. Maybe next year we'll get a real one.

Charles displaying one of his gifts

Jung, or Pebbles as Matt affectionately calls him when he wears his hair like this, displaying one of his gifts.

Luke waiting patiently as Matt opens up one of his presents. (he lost interest in all of 12 seconds and went off in search of wrapping paper/ribbons he could destroy)