Christmas

Here is a random assortment of pictures from Christmas in Wellesley. The first two pictures are from Christmas Eve when Erica and I were comparing our bumps. In the picture I am towards the end of 32 weeks, and she was somewhere about 28 weeks.
Trip and I had a lot of fun on Christmas Day with the whole Negro clan. Although I am not sure Trip was quite prepared for the noise level that occurs with 2 rambunctious toddlers, a 6 year old, and a bunch of adults trying to talk/catch up above it all. Sometime early evening he disappeared upstairs with a bad headache...if I didn't find him sleeping I would have been suspicious he was just trying to play with his new Kindle Fire!
The biggest surprise of the day came when I opened my present from my dad who made me a nursing stool! He used the same wood that he used to make a cradle for Mia's dolly. The stool got a lot of use last week, and arrived here safely this past week (thanks UPS!). It is gorgeous, and easily portable so I can use it wherever in the house I may be :-)
Another big surprise were my diamond earrings from Trip!! This was a combination Christmas and "I was gone for 4 weeks while you were pregnant on fire detail" present. They are gorgeous, and got worn most of the rest of the week. I feel very blessed!
Trip also felt great satisfaction seeing the gleam in Eben's eye when he opened his own tool set we had picked up for him this year. We found a great set of tools, with safety goggles, tool bag and apron - which ridiculously said "age 14 and up." So we told Eben he could use them with his dad's supervision.... seriously, what 14 year old can't appropriately handle tools?? It was a hammer, measuring tape, wire cutters, a few pliers, wrench and maybe a screwdriver or two. The only thing I would worry about are the wire cutters.... Later in the week while we were visiting, Eben got to demonstrate for Trip how he used his hammer (and safety glasses) to bust open a large piece of quartz near their house.
Mia and Jasper were both really excited about their soaps - so I can only hope they lived up to expectation! Someone please be honest with me if they didn't so I won't do that project again...
The picture my mom is holding is a piece of pottery she bought in NM, which my dad had printed on canvas and then built a picture frame. The style of pottery is called the Storyteller representing the oral history of Native Peoples. My mom picked one with 5 children to represent her (soon-to-be) five grandkids.
In the end I think everyone was exhausted, except for maybe Jasper who was still eyeing all the various candy/sweet opportunities throughout the house. It was great to see everyone and then have the rest of the week to visit!