Christmas at Dad's

Our Christmas vacation began on December 21, when we loaded up and left Johnson City at 4:30 pm. Our first stop was the NICU at St Joseph Hospital East in Lexington, KY. We took gifts to the families whose babies would be in the NICU over Christmas - muffins, candies, and gas cards. It was a blessing to talk with one of the mother's about her little boy. The staff also enjoyed seeing Christopher.

We then continued on to Fort Wayne, IN, arriving around 3 am. Long trip, but uneventful, and it was nice to have Christopher sleep almost the entire trip.

Friday through Tuesday, we spent the night over at Dad's place, venturing over to Mom's for a few hours each day for various family events.

The first event, was Christopher getting a bath at Grandpa's house. He was a little smelly from the trip, and Dad likes a clean, good-smelling baby! =) He had bought Christopher some soap, a bathmat and a warm blanket to sleep under. Christopher loved all of his baths (almost daily) that he received at Grandpa's house.






















Grandpa, or "Deda" (pronounced dee-daw) as Christopher chose to call him, and Christopher playing the piano.
















Wow! Deda let Christopher have the remote? Lucky!















On Sunday, Jen, Megan and Steph came over to Dad's house and we all decorated sugar cookies. It was great fun. Say "cookies"!















Jen made the dough and cut out all the shapes.





















Dad baked them all.





















And the rest of us decorated them.















Christmas Eve, we left Christopher with Dad and went with the Didyk girls to midnight mass at the cathedral downtown Fort Wayne. It was beautiful, and a wonderful way to begin Christmas.

Christmas day was spent at Mom's house (see Christmas at Mom's). Then that evening, we went back to Dad's with the girls, and ate the best homemade chicken soup you'll ever eat. It was delicious, and a wonderful evening meal after a big Christmas dinner.
















Then we opened presents. Christopher took all the bows off of everybody's windshield washer fluid from Dad. They remained one of his favorite toys for the rest of the week.















Christopher gets a toy from Deda.














Dad got shelves for his garage from Megan.















Christopher shares one of his toys with Auntie Jen.














Aunt Stephanie, sleeping from exhaustion after surgery on both knees three days prior.















After gifts, we all gathered around Dad's player piano and took turns pumping while everyone sang Christmas and polka songs. It was a wonderful evening together, thoroughly enjoyed by all.















Christopher snuggling Auntie Meg after a long, hard day of playing.





















Um, Christopher, I don't think a detonator is a very good toy for a baby, son.
















"Deda said it's okay, Mommy. Look, it goes down!" Yikes!
















Wednesday, Dad left to go visit his family in Ohio, and we moved over to Mom's. Thanks, Dad/Deda. We love you!!