A Fantastic Final Christmas

Today we had Christmas with Dad, Deb, and my siblings and our spouses and children.  We all met up at Julie and Andrew's house and started with a great brunch.

Dad had fun with the kids disassembling a bow and then using it as a rope.

Benjamin continued to hone his skills as a photographer.

Among the gifts, I was most amazed by the Ocean book that Dad and Deb gave to our kids.  It's really amazing and is something you can't appreciate until you see it, as it uses a technique called photicular to make the pictures look like videos embedded in the pages.  But the most special gift to me was a bottle of Crown Royal with my name embroidered on the bag.  I don't drink very often, but when I do I want to drink something I like, and ever since college (uh, I mean ever since I turned 21), Crown has been my liquor of choice.  Dad knows that, and so he and Deb came up with that as a personalized gift, which I thought was very cool.

In the afternoon we played some games, and then because we're a bunch of board game fiends, I came back in the evening after the kids went to bed so we could all play for a few more hours.  It was a great day, and I think we all enjoyed having essentially the full day at our disposal, so we didn't feel rushed.  It was also really special to have the three siblings in one place with all of our spouses and children, similar to what Meghan had with her sisters when we were in Las Vegas.  Sadly, though, this ends the Christmas season, at least in terms of activities, events, and Christmases (and a bonus wedding!), but we've been able to see so much of our families over the past couple months, and for that we are very thankful.

A Very Nicholl Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with the Nicholl clan at Mom and Ron's house.  As has been the case the past two years, Nick Schale, a former colleague of Ron, came over to take our family pictures.  He did a great job, and was especially great with the kids, and we got a lot of great pictures.

I snapped a few pictures of my own, including cute little Benjamin and an excited Joshua exploring his new book.

We had a great home-cooked meal, and thanks to Mom and Ron's house size and layout, we were able to have everyone eat in one of two large groups.

We later did gifts, and Mom received a violin from Grandpa and Grandma.  She used to play when she was little, but even though she hasn't picked up a violin since then, she immediately nailed some scales as if she still regularly played.  I was quite impressed.  Later, Grandpa received some food items that were branded with a certain sponge who shares his first name.  Grandpa is not counted among the sponge's many fans, and thus he was not thrilled to receive the items.  The perpetrator of this scheme was not definitively determined, but Grandpa had his suspicions, as this scenario has played out without fail for many years now.  Grandma, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased by the whole scenario.

Later in the afternoon and at night some of us played games, including a game called Say Anything that was a nice twist on Apples to Apples, and another new game called Wits & Wagers, which I loved, as it involved knowledge, estimation, and betting.

It was another great Christmas, and it was great to have everyone together (Elle was there for the pictures but had to leave after that) for the celebration.

David and Elle's Wedding

With Joanna's wedding last year, only one of the Nicholl/Leach siblings remained unmarried.  But tonight the final piece was put in place, as David and Elle got married in a beautiful ceremony.  The theme was Boho-Chic / Colorado Christmas Lodge.  Clara already had a perfect outfit, and we were able to put together outfits for Joshua and Hannah that were on-theme.  Meghan also did a nice job of coming up with an outfit for herself.  I, on the other hand, didn't perform as well.  Although my outfit was actually fairly boho-chic, it was too casual for the occasion, so I ended up modifying it on the fly to make it a little less boho-chic but also a little less informal.

The kids enjoyed the dance floor as a place to run around between events.  Here Benjamin watches in the background and considers joining in on the action.

The event was held at the Buffalo Lodge out in Missouri, and it was the perfect setting for the wedding, as it fit the theme perfectly.  We are so excited to have Elle as part of our family and for David to have found the woman of his dreams.

Joshua and Clara's VeggieStuffins Birthday Party

This year we decided to have a combination birthday party for Joshua and Clara.  We had originally planned to do a VeggieTales theme for it, as both kids have really loved VeggieTales over the past year.  But a couple months ago Meghan tried a new show with the kids: Doc McStuffins.  Doc is a girl who is a doctor for toys, fixing their various issues (a Jack in the box with a bad spring, a racecar that needs to be recharged, etc.).  Clara absolutely loves Doc, and it's now always her first choice of a show.  So we decided to split the party into two themes, complete with two banners, two cakes, two types of food labels, etc.  This may not have been the smartest plan, because it almost doubled our work, but we did it anyway.  Here our two birthday kids model their shirts that Meghan designed and made for them.

I made two cakes, but I only had one night to do them because of my work travel.  This meant both cakes weren't up to my usual standards, but I didn't have much choice (well, Meghan insisted I had the choice not to make two different cakes, but that option didn't register as valid with me).  I replicated the kitchen counter that's the setting for the start and finish of every episode of VeggieTales.  But because I was rushed and had to take numerous shortcuts, the outlet was not very good, and the counter ended up looking like an old couch.  The characters (Bob, Larry, and the French Peas) turned out pretty well though.  For Clara's cake, if I had all the time in the world I could have tried to create all the characters out of fondant.  That would have taken forever and would have been really difficult, but I think I could have pulled it off if I had enough time.  I also would have done more with it, such as to recreate Doc's stethoscope.  As it was, I used plastic figurines. and instead focused my efforts on the Band-Aid and the stripes and polka dots.  Overall, her cake turned out well, even if it was simpler than my original design called for.  Meghan made a pretty and tasty pumpkin butterscotch cake so people other than Joshua and Clara would be able to enjoy some cake.

As usual, Meghan did a ridiculously good job with the food.  There were lots of options, and she managed to tie them all in to one theme or the other, cleverly coming up with the titles, most of which were references to specific things in specific episodes (I am that Hero Sandwiches; Grapes of Wrath and Other Fruits; Lauras, Bobs, and Giant Pickle; Hallie's Jello Injections; etc.)  We also had a banner for each kid.

Having an open floorplan is nice, as it allows everyone to be in the same general area and to have space to sit or to mill about chatting with other people.

One of the food items, "Hallie's Jello Injections" involved Jello in giant plastic syringes.  It was kind of a crazy way to consume food, but that didn't stop either G.G. or Papa from trying it out.

Amid all the chaos of people everywhere, the two littlest cousins found each other and hung out together for awhile.

Finally it was cake time.  Joshua had been waiting all day, well all week really, for this.

G.G. and Hannah spent some time together eating cake.

Hannah, Joshua, and Clara shot some hoops with Halie.

Next we opened gifts.  Joshua and Clara alternated, and they seemed very happy with the various things they received.

Joshua later was given free reign on his cake, and he pretty much decimated it, much to his delight. It's been a great day. We were very grateful to have our family in attendance to celebrate Joshua's and Clara's birthdays.