Christmas 2005

Merry Christmas from the Leiby Family!
We had an amazing first Christmas season in South Carolina!
As Greg said Monday night,
"This was my best Christmas ever!"

Epiphany Cookie Bake, 01/07/06
New Year's Day, 01/01/06
New Year's Eve, 12/31/05
Christmas Afternoon, 12/25/05
Christmas Morning, 12/25/05
Christmas Eve, 12/24/05
House Decorations, 12/04/05
MOPS Dinner, 12/01/05
Visit to Santa, 11/27/05

Epiphany Cookie Bake, January 7, 2006

What? You thought the Christmas season was already over? Nope! The Christmas season extends through Epiphany, the day the Wise Men visted the baby Jesus. It falls 12 days after Christmas -- thus the "12 Days of Christmas". We celebrated by participating in an Epiphany Cookie Bake at Christ Church. Along with some other families, we baked and decorated cookies which were then delivered to senior citizens and homebound members of the church. We had a great time! And we are absolutely amazed at how polite and pleasant all the kids are here!

These cute girls loved Matthew!	Michael decorating cookies
Getting help from a very nice man	Official M&M decorator!
Such a friendly helper!	Putting on sprinkles
Helping Daddy ice the cookies	Think he ate some candy?

New Year's Day, January 1, 2006

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone good health and happiness in 2006! If our 2006 is anywhere near as good as our 2005, we're in for another amazing year! Our New Year's morning started out sad though. Today was the day that Mom Mom and Pop Pop headed home. It has been great having them here. Mom Mom, words can't express how much we appreciate all your help. You are the greatest!

Michael & Pop Pop at breakfast	Pop Pop & Matthew
Mom Mom & Michael	Mom Mom & Matthew
Please don't go!!!	Bye bye Mom Mom & Pop Pop

New Year's Eve, December 31, 2005

Today the Chalifoux family headed out. It was wonderful having them here for the holidays! Madeleine and Ryan were so great with Michael and Matthew. Cousins are fun! But it was sad seeing everyone go....

Mom Mom & Pop Pop are FUN! (after we celebrated "New Year's in Paris")	The Leiby's and the Chalifoux's (a bright sunny morning!)
Ryan & Michael playing ball	Bye bye hugs
So long Chalifoux Family! You were great guests!

Christmas Afternoon, December 25, 2005

The kids played with their new stuff all day. Later, we had our big Christmas feast!

All the kids	The Chalifoux Family
Susan's ginger cake	Michael & Madeleine playing
Assembling furniture from Mom Mom & Pop Pop	Christmas dinner

Christmas Morning, December 25, 2005

Yep, kids wake up early on Christmas morning! Michael was in our room at 5:15 am, and we heard Madeleine and Ryan by about 6 am. Finally around 7 am we were ready to go down and see if Santa had come. He did! Of course he did with 4 great kids under the roof last night! Later on, Mom Mom and Pop Pop came over from the hotel, we opened gifts, and had our traditional Christmas breakfast.

Coming downstairs	Coming downstairs
Santa came!	Santa came!
Daddy and his stocking	Mommy and her stocking
Michael and his stocking	Matthew and his stocking
Opening a gift	A brush and a comb!
Outfit from Hailey	New Zealand mobile
Opening a big present	Michael gave Matthew a gift
Mommy got ducky pjs from her boys!	New Dad shirt Passed from Anstead to Chalifoux to Leiby!
Outfit from Grandma & Grandpa Leiby	Mom Mom always gets nail files
Daddy's gift from the boys	Worklights from Mom Mom & Pop Pop!
Ice bucket & tongs from Mom Mom & Pop Pop	Hey! That's Ryan's gift!
The Chalifoux's are going to a hockey game!	Bulldozer from Grandma & Grandpa Leiby
Daddy got a new dive watch	Word Whammy from Hailey!
Breakfast	Breakfast
In Michael's new playhut	Crib mobile from Mom Mom & Pop Pop
Outfit from a neighbor	Outfit from Grandma & Grandpa Leiby
Doggie bank from a neighbor	Wooden dump truck
I Spy from Mom Mom & Pop Pop	We didn't get pictures with all the gifts. But we are very blessed to have so many people who love our boys so much! Thank you!

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2005

We were joined on Christmas Eve by Mom Mom, Pop Pop, Aunt Kristine, Uncle Alan, and Cousins Madeleine & Ryan! We went to the family service at Christ Church, and then came home for an informal meal. It is great having everyone here!

Michael and Daddy in their church clothes	Mommy and Matthew in their church clothes
Mommy & her boys	Matthew & Michael
Look at all those gifts!	Aunt Kristine & Daddy lighting the luminaries

House Decorations, December 4, 2005

Here are a few pictures from our house decorated for Christmas. We decided to keep it simple this year since there is so much going on. We put up our outside lights on the First Sunday of Advent, as is tradition. The rest of the decorations were done today. Mom Mom & Pop Pop helped us decorate the tree, and Pop Pop is especially good at topping the tree with the Angel! (He's 6'3".) enjoy!

This is our house. Kind of hard to see the house itself in the dark. Might try to get a better one at twilight.	Our Christmas Tree
Our Christmas Creche, or Nativity. This is a traditional French creche, with handmade and handpainted santons made from clay, given to Susan by her parents when they were living in France. They add to it after each new visit to France.	Our Mantle Can't actually hang the stockings yet or they might get pulled down! And hopefully we'll be adding a 4th stocking soon!

MOPS Dinner, December 1, 2005

Tonight we went to a special Christmas Dinner with Susan's MOPS group. Normally it's just the moms meeting once a month, but for this special dinner, the MOPS included the "POPS"! The food was delicious, the music was great, and the company was wonderful as always.

Visit to Santa, November 27, 2005

Today is the First Sunday of Advent, so it's time to start celebrating! After church we took Michael to the mall to visit Santa. Of course Michael wanted no part of being alone with Santa. But that's probably a good thing. Nothing wrong with a kid having his "stranger-danger" alert on. Even with jolly old elves handing out gingerbread cookies! We finally gave in and all jumped in the picture. Here are 2 versions, including our attempt to make a picture with just Michael and Santa.