Christmas was a little weird this year. We had plans to drive down to Texas to see Nicole and her family, but not till Christmas day. Also, Christmas was on a Sunday, so we didn't really have a lot of time to enjoy the holiday in Chicago. I worked pretty much up till Dec. 23. I lost some of my vacation days because I was fairly focused on getting a couple of research projects done. Plus I was working on course prep for a new course I was scheduled for during winter quarter.
Nico had a winter show again this year. It was by far the best one since he started there. Lots of class singalongs. It was my favorite.
We ended up with a real tree again this year. Bought it from a Wisconsin tree seller posted up at the Jewel on at Clark and Ashland. Nico helped decorate the tree (a lot this year).
We had the G family over for dinner on the 23rd. The boys decorated christmas cookies. I made croissants (pictured below). They are a lot of work. But the kids had a blast. Nico and the middle boy (J) had a hard time getting along.
One of the sweeter developments this year is Nico wanting to give gifts. He wrapped up some old toys for the kids as gifts. I ended up taking him to Target to buy gifts instead. But it was sweet. We also gave him a little money to buy gifts for us at the school bazaar. He has really good taste. He got me a ceramic pencil cup from Berger and some body sprays from the bazaar. He also got Dave a hands free phone holder for the car.
We also ended up having the talk about Santa. I didn't do it well, because it was unexpected and I was unprepared. I was sorta taken aback about how grown up he is.
Reading Jolabokaflod on Christmas eve.
Christmas was good this year. Nico got a big nerf gun. BJ (Kevin's friend from childhood) hooked m up with some rechargeable chinese batteries. Nico's nerf gun leaves a bit of a mark. Dave's parents got him a City kit, a razor scooter, a baseball bag, and some Oyo legos. Gran and Gramps got Nico the Osmo coding set (we learned about Osmo from Dave's best friend's family at Thanksgiving). It comes with a couple of kits-tangram and letters. The coding set was an add on. It is the best of the three. So much so, that I like playing with it. :)
Dave and Nico got me a judo gi. So excited. I am going to be able to start my "training as a judoka for one year" life list item.
Nico and I got Dave a new kindle.
The trip to Texas was relatively uneventful. We were 2.5 hours late to getting our rental car and it was gone. So we ended up with a 15 passenger van. It was nice to have that much room. It would have been better without all the seats though.
Nico and the cousins got along famously. He and Maddox would play sports outside for HOURS.
For me, the Bain kids get more fun every time I see them. Jo is very sweet and so clever. She had oral surgery while we were there. Becks is still pretty cuddly and chatty. We had a couple of really funny conversations. Em liked hanging out and doing arts and crafts stuff. Maddox is funny because he seems so grown. He and Nico bonded over dude perfect- and were just plain silly.
On our way back to Chicago, we made a stop by Royse City. So far, this is the second pic of Dave and Nico in front of that Royse City sign. I hope we can keep taking them- it would be Nice to have a series of like 10-20 of those. So, I just need Nicole and Cody to never move. :)
We took our time coming back, and stayed the night in Missouri somewhere. We stopped off in Jeff City so Dave could check out Mizzou. We had lunch at one of his old stomping grounds (and watched the U of L bowl game). After, the boys dipped into a campus gear store to get Nico suited up with a long sleeve t and an Oyo Mizzou guy.
We made it back in time for New Years Eve with the G family. Which was awesome and fun. I managed to NOT get schnockered this year, which was a huge win.
