A right jolly old elf

Our Christmas hiatus is over. The elves have gone back to the north pole until next year but they had a good time while they were around... Cameron had the wonderfully insane idea to dress up as elves for our flight to Utah. At first I said, "Are you kidding me? No way." But after a few weeks of talking about it and purchasing me a pair of red and white candy cane stripe tights, I accepted my unrelenting husband's creative idea all in the name of bringing holiday cheer to people on a 7 am flight out of Newark 2 days before Christmas.

Thanks to my friend April of Lillebarn, we were able to get these awesome hats, which are also quite warm and cozy. We had a bit of a scare from the post office as they were supposed to arrive several days before our departure but only showed up the afternoon before only after we hounded the post office the previous Saturday. Everyone loved our outfits, and the little man made the perfect and most adorable little elf. Mission accomplished.

We spent a week and a half in Provo at Cameron's parents' house with all of his siblings and their families... 22 of us in all. It was lovely. We went bowling, played mini golf and a few games at the nickelcade, and shot a movie. Cameron wrote a short screenplay starring everyone in the family that he wanted to shoot over Christmas, so a good portion of the holiday was spent doing that. Thanks to our brother in law Jan Dawson and his excellent photography skills, we have it documented.We then spent 48 hours in Las Vegas/St. George visiting my parents and celebrating my niece's 8th birthday. We also got to meet my new nephew Seamus Graeme, who was born on Christmas Day.We had the best time and the little man was pretty well behaved with the exception of his sleeping patterns, which were all messed up thanks to different time zones, over stimulation and unfamiliar environments, but we muddled through.

It's great to be home, in my own bed, eating normal amounts of good food and getting back to sleeping through the night again. We loved 2008 and know that 2009 is going to be just as great if not better. Happy New Year!

A few faves and highlights...

Me and my brother with our boys John and Seamus.I love these boys.

Are you kidding me? Could he get any cuter?
JHK really likes windows. I think he might have a future in window washing because he is always licking them, but at least he can stand up by himself.
Getting closer and closer to sitting up all the way by himself... and playing with his hungry caterpillar from Gma and Gpa Kelly.
He had been sitting up and licking the basketball, and I couldn't resist that adorable face.
Bowling at BYU... a highlight. It brought back memories of taking my bowling class. My skill has gone down hill in 10 years.
JH with his great grandma - wife of his namesake.

Eating solids and liking them. He was eating them with such vigor and enthusiasm for almost 2 weeks, but his interest has since waned although he did help me eat a cornbread muffin today.